Mockingbird
by ponygurl51090
Summary: 3rd story in butterfly kisses series. Davanee is now 8. the twins are 6. Used to be it's my life
1. Chapter 1

Pony:22

Davanee & Dillon: 8

Mercy & Scotty: 6

Darry: 28

Soda, Johnny: 24

Two-Bit: 26

Steve, Dallas: 25

Bo: 7

Maddie: 20

"Once apone a time, there lived a man and a women. The man and the woman were very poor. They barely had enough money to afford there tiny apartment. The woman had long, red, beautiful hair and the man had a silver pocket watch that his father had given him so many years ago" began Davanee. She loved telling the story of "the gift of the magi." It was her favorite story and Mercy and Scotty practically begged her to tell it again and again. I kinda liked it myself.

I waited till the story was over to break up the little slumber party.

"Ok girls, time for bed" I said, walking into the room. The door was already opened.

"Aww, come on, just one more story" said Davanee.

"Not tonight" I said, "we have a very busy day tomorrow."

"Why?" asked Scotty.

"Because it's the first day of school" I said, pulling Scotty and Mercy off of Davanee's bed, "and you guys gotta get to bed early tonight."

"And it's the first day of your new job" added Davanee.

"Don't remind me" I said. I hadn't gotten a job at the school as an English teacher. The next day was going to be my first day teaching, ever. I continued working at San Jose on the Sundays. You'd be surprised by how many people go to country clubs on Sundays.

I carried Mercy and Scotty off to there room and tucked them in. I felt bad about making them share a room but for the time being they didn't seem to mind. I think they liked each other's company.

"Daddy" said Mercy as I was tucking her in, "what was Mommy like?"

"Oh, I've told you guys a thousand times what she was like" I said.

"Tell us again" said Scotty, getting out of bed.

"I will if you get back into bed" I said. She stopped almost immediately and climbed back into bed. Out of the two of them, Scotty was the more energetic one. She'd be up at five in the morning every morning running around the apartment, like she had just had five bowls of sugar. The doctor's said it was just her being a normal 6 year old and not to worry about it.

Mercy on the other hand tended to be calm, but she could be energetic when she wanted. She was more clingy then Scotty. She always wanted to be around me. When she was a baby, she had a bad case of separation anxiety.

"Well" I said, sitting down on Mercy's bed, "she was smart, like both of you are. She was pretty, like you guys are. She was energetic, like Scotty is and she's sweet, like you are" I said.

"What about Davanee?" asked Mercy.

"Well, she was a good story teller, like Davanee is" I said.

"Oh" was all they could say. I smiled and gave them both a kiss goodnight. I turned out the light and shut the door. They almost always asked about there mom. At first I sort of annoyed me, but I don't mind it so much now. They have every right to know about her. They can ask all the questions they want. Mercy and Scotty didn't know that Anya wasn't Davanee's mother. Davanee didn't know that either. I thought 8 was a little too young to tell her. I wanted to wait until she was older, or at least until she ever asked.

I walked down the hall back to Davanee's room.

"So what grade will you be in tomorrow? 2nd?" I asked.

"3rd" said Davanee.

"Oh yeah that's right. Wow, 3 rd grade. You're getting old" I said.

"I'm not that old. I'm only 8" said Davanee.

"I dunno. 8's pretty old to me" I said.

"Too old to get a goodnight kiss?" asked Davanee.

"You're never too old for that" I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek, "night baby."

"Night dad" said Davanee. I pulled the covers over her and turned out the lights. I really didn't want to go to bed that night. I wasn't looking forward to the next day. It's not that I didn't want to be a teacher it's just that I was really nervous.

I went to bed that night with a stomachache. Davanee woke me up the next morning. She was all dressed and ready to go. I must admit for an 8 year old, she didn't have a bad sense of fashion. She had on a white t-shirt that had "kool" in big red letters, with bell-bottom jeans, red converse, and a red base-ball cap. Her hair was flipped up a little. Even though she was 8, she was careful when it came to curling her hair.

"Go get your sisters up" I said, still half asleep.

"Scotty's already up" said Davanee.

"Then get Mercy up. I'll start breakfast" I said.

I walk out into the hallway only to hear that the girls were playing David Cassidy on the record player as loud as they could. All three of them were in love with David Cassidy, even Scotty and Mercy. I personally didn't find the guy all that appealing but I guess he wasn't that bad.

When I walked into the kitchen, Scotty ran and jumped into my arms.

"Morning Daddy" she said, giving me a kiss.

"Morning sweetie" I said, putting her back down.

"We got school today" she said.

"I know. Go sit down and I'll fix ya some breakfast" I said. Scotty ran to the table and sat down. She was quickly joined by Davanee and Mercy. Mercy was still half asleep when it was time for breakfast. She didn't really like getting up early. Unlike Scotty, she liked to sleep in till 8 or so. I helped the twins get dressed while Davanee got all of her stuff together. We were ready and out the door by 6:50. School started at 8. I had to finish getting my room ready and I thought it would take us a little while to get everybody situated. This was going to be Scotty and Mercy's first year in different classes. They had been in the same classes all through out preschool and kindergarten. They didn't really like to be separated from each other. I tried to get them in the same class but it didn't work.

The school was almost disserted when we got there. Besides the teachers and faculty, nobody was there. Davanee, Scotty, and Mercy stayed in my room until it was time for the kids to start showing up.

Scotty and Mercy cried a little at first, but once they met there teachers and a couple of the other kids, they seemed to be ok. Davanee was the same way, except she didn't cry. She was in the same class with Dillon that year, which made things a bit easier. Once everybody was were they needed to be, I went up to my room. The middle school hallways were so crowded, you could barely move.

I waited for a long time for someone to come. Finally, a girl who looked to be in the 8th or 9th grade walked in. she looked kinda scared. The girl brown hair that was curled up at the ends. She kinda looked like an older version of Davanee, except Davanee's hair was lighter.

"You're Mr. Curtis, right?"

"Yeah. What's your name?"

"Morgan. Morgan Thompson. 9th grade."

"Nice to meet you."

Morgan took a seat in the second row. Pretty soon, she was surrounded by a bunch of girls, laughing and talking up a storm. I guess she wasn't new. I had about 30 kids. The first day was terrible. I lost the lesson plans, the kids were crazy, and I spilt Pepsi all down the front of me. Normally, that wouldn't be such a big deal but I was wearing a white shirt that day.

I was more than glad when school was over. I picked the kids up and brought them back to my room. I still had some work to do.

"Daddy, look what I did" said Scotty, holding up a picture. It was a purple and pink butterfly.

"That's pretty. We'll hang it up on the refrigerator when we get home" I said. Scotty and Mercy drew on the chalkboard while Davanee did her homework. She never really needed help when it came to homework. She was pretty smart for her age.

We didn't get home that day until four. School got out at 2:30. Davanee was done with her homework so I let her go outside with Mercy and Scotty. There was a little yard in the back where the kids could play, but I didn't let them go outside by themselves. It wasn't the best neighborhood.

"Dad, watch this" said Davanee.

"Ok, I'm watching." Davanee did a cartwheel. Kara and Hailey had taught her how to do a cartwheel a couple of weeks before school went back. It was a bit hard to believe that Kara was 13 now and Hailey was 11. Haley just went back to staying with Stephen. Stephen got help for his problem. His parents were a bit hesitant about letting Haley stay with him, but they figured she had every right to get a chance to know her father.

Kara on the other hand moved in with Two-Bit. She claimed she couldn't stand staying with her mom and new boyfriend. Kara hated her mom's boyfriend. Two-Bit didn't really like him either.

"Dad, can we go to the park?" asked Mercy, pulling out of my daydream.

"Yeah, in a little while. We're gonna go see Uncle Soda at work in a little bit" I said. The girls liked seeing Soda at work. Soda let them help with the cars. Davanee loved working on cars. She had been working on them since she could hold a wrench.

We went to the DX about an hour before it closed. Soda owned the old gas station now. The old owner left to him when he died. After about an hour of playing outside, we walked down to the DX. Soda was working on a car when we got there. He may own the place, but he still likes working on the cars and stuff.

The girls ran up and gave him a hug, nearly tackling him.

"To what do I own this honor?" asked Soda.

"First day of school" replied Davanee.

"How'd that go?"

"It was ok" said Scotty.

"Yeah, it was just ok" said Mercy.

"Sorry to hear that" said Soda.

"So how was your day?" I asked.

"Girls, why don't you go work on one of the cars" said Soda. The girls ran off to the car Soda was working on.

"I gotta go to California" said Soda.

"Why?"

"They're trying to open a new store out there and they need me there. I leave sometime next week" said Soda.

"Who's gonna run the store here?" I asked.

"Steve and Ally will be here" said Soda.

"Steve and Ally are back in town?" I asked. Ally left a couple of months after Anya died. Steve had convinced her to go back home. He ended up leaving shortly after. He claimed there was nothing keeping him in Tulsa. Steve ended up moving to Texas with Ally. He's been there ever since. He never really visits us but he talks to Soda a lot. Soda will be happy to see him.

_I know it's kinda boring but it'll get better, I promise!_


	2. the joys of fatherhood

_I messed up on the other chapter. It was supposed to say "I had gotten a job" instead of "I hadn't gotten."_ _And Hailey's age is wrong. She's supposed to be 10._

A couple of weeks passed and everything at school seemed to get better. The kids settled down after the first week or so and we started getting into the swing of things. Soda left for California after the first week of school. He said that he would be back in a couple of weeks if everything went well. We haven't heard from him since. Steve came to town just like Soda said. He was shocked to see the twins. They were babies when he last saw them.

I was picking Davanee up one day when her teacher pulled me aside.

"Has Davanee been sick recently?" asked the teacher. Her name was Mrs. Carson. She was a nice, older women who had been teaching 3rd grade for a long, long time. She reminded me a lot of my grandma.

"No, why?" I asked.

"She's been getting really dizzy lately and she seems to be confused a lot. She understands what we're talking about in class and her grades are good but outside of class she seems to get confused and disoriented easily. She's had to go down to the nurse a number of times because she hasn't been feeling well. I'm not saying you should worry or anything, I just thought you should know" said Mrs. Carson.

"Ok, thanks Mrs. Carson" I said, smiling. I liked her. I liked that she actually cared about her students. Some teachers don't. Once I got Davanee, we went to pick up the twins. They were all the way on the other side of the building so we had to walk a little ways.

"What did Mrs. Carson talk to you about?" asked Davanee.

"She told me you've been sick. You've had to go to the nurse a couple of times. You wanna tell me about it?" I asked.

"I dunno. I get really shaky. Sometimes everything gets really blurry. Please don't take me to Dr. Irene, she'll give she me a shot" said Davanee.

"I don't know. I might have to if this doesn't stop" I said. By that time we were at Mercy's room. She was in the middle of painting a picture when we showed up. Her hands were covered in pink and yellow paint.

"Daddy!" shouted Mercy, running towards us.

"Hey, sweetie" I said, picking her up, "how was your day?"

"It was good. I made a picture" she said, smiling and holding up the still wet picture.

"I can see that" I said, putting her down, "why don't you go wash your hands and then we'll go get Scotty."

"Ok" said Mercy. She handed me the picture and ran to join the other kids at the sink. She was in a class of about 25-30 kids. It was big for a first grade class. I wouldn't like to handle so many 1st graders. Two were enough for me. After Mercy was done washing her hands, we went to get Scotty. We found Scotty sitting at a table, reading a book. She learned how to read over the summer. Mercy knew how to read too but she didn't read as much as Scotty. Mercy liked looking at all the pictures.

Scotty threw the book down when she saw us standing in the doorway.

"How was your day?" I asked, giving her a hug.

"It was good. I made new friends" said Scotty.

"Oh really. What are their names?"

"Cameron and Katie" said Scotty.

"Do you eat lunch with them."

"Yep. They live in our neighborhood."

"I made a new friend too" said Davanee, "her name is Stacey. She just moved here from Georgia. She lives next door to us." I do remember a family moving in next door over the summer, but I didn't see any kids with them. They were an older couple.

"Honey, are you sure Stacey lives next door?" I asked.

"Yeah. She lives with her grandparents. Something happened to her mom and dad and she had to come here. I'm glad she did. There aren't any kids where we live" said Davanee.

"Well, you got your sisters" I said.

"Dad, they're six. I need to play with kids my own age, not babies" said Davanee.

"Hey, be nice" I said, unlocking the door to my room. Davanee went right to work on her homework while Mercy and Scotty looked at books they brought home from the school library. Surprisingly, Scotty actually finished the book. She had a short attention span and couldn't sit still for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

We went home about an hour later. Instead of going home, we went to the park. I graded summer reading papers while the kids played. I really didn't want to grade papers but I had to. I could tell from these essays that a lot of the kids needed help. They understood the complicated stuff like how to write a thesis statement but not the easy stuff, like where to put a comma. I used to struggle with that too. I was terrible at grammar when I was a kid. I always hated when we reviewed grammar in English.

"Dad look" said Davanee. I looked up to see her hanging upside down from the monkey bars.

"Davanee, be careful" I warned.

"I am" said Davanee, smiling. She had just lost her two front teeth so there was a big hole in the front of her mouth. I watched as she slowly climbed down and ran to go with Scotty and Mercy on the tire swing. Scotty and Mercy sat on the swing while Davanee pushed. She started out slow but got faster.

"Davanee, don't push them too fast" I said.

"Why not?"

"Because they get sick and then they'll throw up all over you" I said, which wasn't true.

"Dad, can we go see Uncle Soda at work?" asked Davanee.

"Nope. He's in California, remember? Besides, tonight we're going over to the house to have dinner with Uncle Darry" I said.

Davanee stopped pushing and the twins climbed off. Scotty and Mercy went to play in the sandbox while Davanee sat down next to me. Davanee just stared at me before she said anything. That was her way of getting your attention.

I put my pen down and asked "why aren't you playing with your sisters?"

"I don't want to. You know, you're not like other dads. You're not like Hailey's dad" said Davanee.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"You're not as old as most dads and you're not as mean as Hailey's" said Davanee. She had been over to Hailey's house a couple of times. She didn't really like it over there. She claims that Stephen was really mean to her and said that she was a bad influence. How an 8 year old as sweet as her could be a bad influence was beyond me.

"Why don't we head over to the house" I suggested, quickly changing the subject.

"Ok. I'll go get Mercy and Scotty" said Davanee walking away with her head hung a little low. She was disappointed that I didn't tell her more. If I had told her then, she wouldn't of understood.

We walked from the park to the house. I thought for sure Darry would eventually sell that place but I was wrong. He hasn't sold it yet. After all these years the house still looked pretty good aside from the paint chipping in a couple of places. The girls ran inside ahead of me. Darry wasn't home yet. Normally he doesn't work late but there are those occasional times.

Davanee helped me make dinner while Mercy set the table. Scotty was too busy running around the living room. Out of all of my kids, Scotty was the one who went to time out the most. It's not that she was a bad kid, it's just that she was very hyper and she burned off the energy by doing stuff like running around the house or jumping on the bed when I told her not to.

Mercy on the other hand was pretty behaved. She hardly ever went to time out, and when she did it was because Scotty was doing it and it looked like fun.

Davanee was too old to go to time out. She just got things taken away from her like TV or her record player. She could live without TV but she couldn't live without music. I was the same way. I didn't really care about TV but I liked music.

Darry came home about 30 minutes later. Dinner was ready and the table was set. Scotty stopped running around once she saw Darry. I know this may sound a little crazy, but Scotty actually liked Darry more than Soda. Don't get me wrong, she absolutely loved Soda but she loved Darry more.

"Uncle Darry!" yelled Scotty, running up to him and giving him a hug.

"Scotty, long time no see" said Darry, picking her up.

"Guess what" said Scotty.

"What?"

"I made new friends at school" said Scotty.

"That's good. What are their names?"

"Cameron and Katie" said Scotty as Darry set her down at the table. As soon as he set Scotty down, Davanee and Mercy gave him a hug. It had been a long time since we'd seen him. With school starting, we really didn't have time for anything else. Davanee would be starting piano and dance next week. She's been playing piano and dancing since she was 3. Mercy played piano too. She and Davanee had the same teacher. Scotty on the other hand showed no interest in piano but she loved dancing. For a 6 year old she wasn't that bad.

Dinner was filled with talk about the first week of school and work. Darry was now the owner of the roofing company. The old owner retired a couple of years ago and left the business to Darry. I always knew someday he'd have his own business. I know he really wanted to get out of Tulsa eventually, but I don't think that will happen. I wanted to get out of Tulsa too, but that was almost impossible. As the kids get older, it will be harder to leave. They'll get wrapped up in there own worlds and I wouldn't want to take that away from them.

I remember when I was 14 I used to dream about getting out. I couldn't wait to leave, but that all changed in one night, well two nights actually. The first night was at a party and the second night was about nine months later. I went from going to movies and hanging out with friends all day to changing diapers and 3 am feedings. Honestly, I was ok with that. I must say being a teen parent wasn't too terrible. Sure, it had it's ups and downs, but that's what makes it exciting, right? Can you imagine how boring everything would be if everything was perfect?

We ended up spending the night. Our original plan was to walk home when dinner was over but it started pouring down rain. The last thing I needed was for everyone to get sick. I was walking past the guest room when I noticed Davanee, Mercy, and Scotty laying on the bed, reading a story (we kept a couple of books and toys at the house). Davanee was laying in the middle with Scotty on one side and Mercy on the other. Davanee was reading _Green Eggs and Ham_.

"Why don't you read?" asked Davanee, handing the book to Mercy.

"But I'm not a good reader" said Mercy.

"Of course you are. I've heard you read before. You're very good" said Davanee.

"Ok" said Mercy. "I would not like them here or there. I would not like them an…..an"

"Anywhere" said Davanee.

"Anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am."

"See, I told you you where a good reader. Now it's Scotty's turn" said Davanee. Scotty happily took the book from Mercy and picked up where she left off.

I liked hearing the kids read to each other. Davanee read to Scotty and Mercy most of the time but occasionally she would let Scotty or Mercy read.

Once they were done, Davanee put the book up and they fell asleep in the guest room. I covered them up with a blanket and turned out the light. I ended up sleeping in my old room. It had been years since I had slept in there. The room still looked the same with a couple of minor changes. One being the fact that Soda wasn't there. I couldn't get to sleep that night. I just laid there, spinning my wedding ban on my finger. It had been six years since she died and I still hadn't taken it off. I didn't want to. Call me crazy, but I wasn't ready. I know she would want me to move on, but I didn't.

I was almost asleep when I heard the door creak open. I looked to see Mercy standing in the doorway.

"Mercy, what's wrong? What are you doing up?"

"The thunder scares me. Can I sleep in here?"

"Yeah, sure" I said.

Mercy smiled and got into bed.

"Night Daddy" she said, giving me a kiss and snuggling up under my arm.

"Night sweetie."

Mercy was asleep within minutes. She could fall asleep just about anywhere at any time. I wish I could do that.

I was almost asleep when the door creaked open again. This time it was Scotty.

"Scotty, what are you doing out of bed?" I whispered so I wouldn't wake Mercy.

"The thunder's scary. Can I sleep in here?"

I sighed and said "yeah, come on."

Scotty climbed in and snuggled up under my other arm. She gave me a kiss goodnight and fell asleep after a couple of minutes. I could already tell I wasn't going to get any sleep that night, but I guess that's all part of the experience. I can't begin to tell you how many nights I've lost sleep because someone was sick or they wouldn't stop crying or they were having a bad dream.

I thought for sure I was going to fall asleep this time when the door opened again. I didn't even have to look to know who it was. Davanee absolutely hated thunderstorms.

Instead of laying down next to Mercy, she fell asleep near my feet. She was asleep within seconds. I finally fell asleep that night around 3 with Mercy and Scotty under each arm and Davanee at my feet. Oh, the joys of fatherhood.


	3. Needles

Chapter 3

Weeks went by and we didn't hear from Soda. I was starting to worry about him. He should've been back by now. He said he'd be back by now. I couldn't help but think something bad had happened to him.

That Saturday I took Davanee to the doctor. Her dizziness and shaking had gotten worse.

We waited in the stuffy waiting room for almost an hour. A lot of kids were there to get the back to school check ups and shots. Davanee didn't have to get those yet. She didn't have to get them till 7th or 8th grade.

"Davanee" called one of the nurse. Davanee hopped up from the chair and followed the nurse down the hall. They did the standard check up things. For instance they weighed her and listened to her heart. After all that was over, Dr. Irene came in. The nurses are the ones who do the check up stuff.

Dr. Irene greeted us like she always did, with a smile and a hug.

"We have to get a blood sample" said Dr. Irene.

"For what?" asked Davanee.

"So we can see what's wrong" said Dr. Irene. I had to help hold Davanee down while the doctor got the blood. Davanee absolutely hated anything that had to do with needles. I must admit, it was a bit scary to see that big needle that Dr. Irene used to get the blood.

"We'll run a couple of test and we'll have you come in when we get them back" said Dr. Irene.

I was a bit anxious to know the test results. Test results never turned out well for me. For example, when the doctor's told us that Anya had bacterial meningitis. Or when the paternity test came back. I've never told anybody this, but at the beginning I was hoping the paternity test was negative and I wasn't the father. But now I'm glad they were positive. I couldn't really picture life without Davanee. Just seeing her smile makes a bad day go from bad to good. Just seeing any of my girls smile makes my day better. Especially when Mercy smiles. She has Anya's smile. That priceless grin that made me go week at the knees.

I was at work when the doctor's office called. I got called down to the office to take the call. The receptionist on the other end told me to come in the next day after school. It was important.

Davanee and I went back to the doctors office the next day, hopping that what ever she had wasn't too serious and could be treated right away. We were taken back to Dr. Irene's actual office almost immediately.

"The test results are back. They're not good" said the doctor, "I'm sorry but Davanee has type 1 diabetes. Her pancreas isn't producing enough insulin." Dr. Irene went on to explain that Davanee would need to monitor her blood sugar level at least 4 times a day. Dr. Irene started Davanee on Intensive insulin therapy. Davanee would have to inject the long acting insulin twice a day and the short acting before every meal. The doctor showed us how and where to inject the insulin. Davanee didn't like it at all. Like I said before, she didn't like needles. I know she gets that from me because I absolutely hate needles.

We left about an hour or so later. Maddie had Scotty and Mercy and I knew she had to get to work. Davanee was staring out the window, occasionally looking down at the medicine (it was sitting between us).

"You ok?" I asked.

"Yeah. Just tired" said Davanee.

"How about we go see Uncle Darry after we get Mercy and Scotty? I'm sure he'd love to see us" I suggested.

"Ok."

To my surprise, Darry was home. We found him cooking dinner.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Darry.  
"We thought we'd stop by for a little while" I said.

"Oh. Any particular reason why you guys felt like stopping by?" asked Darry.

"Girls, why don't you guys go play outside" I suggested.

"Can I do that?" asked Davanee.

"Yeah, I don't see why not. The doctor said exercise would help" I said. Davanee ran outside to join Scotty and Mercy. They already had the sidewalk chalk out.

"What was that about?" asked Darry.

"We got the test results back today. Davanee has type one diabetes" I said.

"Don't they normally diagnosis that around 14?"

"That's what the doctor said but apparently Davanee is a special case. We just can't win any more, can we?" I asked, sighing.

"Nope. The odds don't seem to be in our favor anymore" said Darry, "but look on the bright side. At least Scotty and Mercy are healthy."

"Yeah. Scotty who's too hyper for her own good and Mercy who's too clingy" I said.

"There's nothing wrong with her being too clingy. She'll grow out of it" said Darry.

"I hope so. So, what happened in your day?"

"You'll never guess who called me at work today."

"Who?"

"Aunt Ruthie. She's in town next week and she wants to visit with us."

"Is she that rich aunt that ignored us when mom and dad died?" I asked.

"That'd be her. She still thinks you're 10 and in the 4th grade" said Darry, "she still thinks mom and dad are here."

"How are we related to her again?" I asked. I used to know but since I haven't talked to her in years, I forgot.

"She's dad's sister, which would make her our aunt. Her flight lands on Saturday at 10. She's having a limo pick her up at the airport" said Darry.

"Where is she staying?"

"She's staying at some fancy hotel over on the Soc side of town. She might stay here for a day or two."

"She's gonna stick out like a sore thumb in this neighborhood" I said. I was about to add to that but Scotty came running in.

"Daddy!" called Scotty from the living room.

"In the kitchen" I called back. Scotty came running in.

"Daddy, you gotta come outside" she said, out of breathe.

"Why?"

"Mercy fell. She's crying" said Scotty. I followed Scotty outside to where Mercy and Davanee were sitting on the ground. Mercy had a big scrape on her knee.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Scotty was chasing me and I fell" said Mercy between sobs. She didn't handle injuries very well.

"Ok, well let's go inside and put a band-aid on it" I said, picking Mercy up. Davanee and Scotty continued with the game. I cleaned up Mercy's scrape, put a band-aid on, and within a couple of minutes she was back outside playing.

"So are you guys staying for dinner?" asked Darry.

"I dunno. I think we might head home in a little while" I said.

"Oh come, stay" said Darry.

"You sure?"

"Positive" said Darry.

I said "ok."

Once dinner was ready, I called the kids in. Scotty and Mercy came running in. Davanee was a bit hesitant. She knew she had to get another shot before she could eat.

"I'm not hungry" said Davanee, which was a lie. Davanee was always hungry around dinner time. When she was a baby she'd cry around dinner time. I know, babies cry all the time, but not Davanee. She didn't cry that much.

"Come on, you have to eat" I said.

"But I'm not hungry."

"Do you want to get sick?"

Davanee shook her head no.

"I'll help you" I said. Davanee thought about it for a moment before finally agreeing. It took me a little while to figure out where the shot was suppose to go but we figured it out eventually.

"Dad, how long do I have to do this?" asked Davanee once we were done.

"For a long, long time, sweetie."

"Until I die?"

"Probably."

"Is it gonna be a long time before I die?

"I hope so" I said as we walked out to the kitchen. Dinner was anything but quiet that night. We mostly talked about what happened at school and work that day. We had to get home early that night. The kids had school tomorrow. I felt bad about making Davanee go to school the next day. Before I dropped her off at her class, I told her to come to my room before lunch. I would've given the medicine to the nurse but Davanee wasn't really comfortable with it yet. Maybe after she's gotten used to it but until then, she wanted me to do it.

I had all of the classes do in class essays. In class essays weren't really a favorite of mine but they had to be done. I was getting ready to hand back the summer reading essay when Davanee opened the door. She looked around the room nervously. 30 something middle schoolers can be kinda scary to a 3rd grader.

"There's a lot of kids in here" said Davanee once I was done.

"It's a big class" I said, getting the insulin from the bottom drawer of my desk. Several kids turned around to see what was going on.

"Why are they looking at us?" asked Davanee.

"Guys, go back to writing your papers" I said. They turned around and went back to writing. Davanee closed her eyes and flinched a little when I gave her the shot.

"It's over now, you can open your eyes" I said, putting the needle away, "now go to lunch."

"Bye" said Davanee as she walked out of the room.

"Who was that?" asked one of the kids.

"My daughter" I said.

"You don't look that old. How could you possibly have a daughter?" asked another kid.

"Go back to your writing before I make it a quiz grade" I said. The rest of the class was quiet.


	4. Who you'd be today

Chapter 4

Aunt Ruthie came that following Saturday dressed in her best. She was wearing a pink dress with a big, pink, straw hat that had a flower on it. Her grey hair was in a neat bun that was slightly covered by the hat. She had white gloves and white heels to match. It was probably a good thing she had those heels on. She wasn't very tall. From what I remember, she was a kind yet strict women. She had not tolerance for bad behavior but she was still nice. Aunt Ruthie was much older than Dad. Dad was born when aunt Ruthie was a freshman in college. She looked to be around 60 or so.

We met her over at the house. We walked in to find her sitting on the couch, all prim and proper. She immediately stood and brushed herself off when she saw us.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Aunt Ruthie, it's me, Ponyboy" I said.

"It can't be. You were just a little boy when I last saw you. How old are you now?" she asked.

"22."

"You're all grown up now" she said, giving me a hug. That's when she noticed the girls standing behind me.

"Who are they?"

"Aunt Ruthie these are my daughters Davanee, Mercy, and Scotty. Girls say hi to your aunt ruthie" I said. The girls said hi in unison.

"They're so adorable. You must be the oldest" she said, talking to Davanee obviously.

"Yes ma'am" said Davanee, smiling. She loved being the oldest.

"And which one is the oldest here?" asked Aunt Ruthie, referring to the twins.

"Actually they're twins" I said.

"Twins? There hasn't been any twins in the Curtis family for years but it's a shame they aren't identical. That would be something. You know the last twins in this family were my great grandfather and great uncle" said Aunt Ruthie. Honestly, I don't know if I would be able to handle identical twins. I wouldn't be able to tell them apart. That's why I'm glad Mercy and Scotty were fraternal. They do look somewhat alike, but Mercy's hair is a dirty blonde almost brown color while Scotty's is really blonde. She got that from Anya. Anya used to have really blonde hair before she dyed it brown.

"I didn't know that" I said, acting like I was interested. The girls ran outside to play. Aunt Ruthie and I talked for a little while. She wanted to know absolutely everything. She wanted to know where I worked, what schools I went to, and most of all, the story behind the wedding band. I told her all about Anya, about how we met at the doctor's office, how we spent two years dating, how I purposed to her, and how she died. It had been six years since she died and I still found it hard to talk about. I didn't want to talk about it.

I think about Anya a lot. Sometimes I wondered what she would be doing today if she were still here. Would she be on the road to becoming a college professor like she always wanted? Or would she still be working at the DX? I can't help but think her death was my fault. Maybe if I had taken her to the doctor sooner, she'd still be here. When we got married, I though for sure we'd be together for years. I had no idea she would be ripped away from me in less than a year.

Scotty and Mercy ask questions about her all the time. What did mommy look like? Was mommy smart? Or, one of the harder questions to answer, where is mommy now? I try my best to answer all of there questions but there are some things that are hard to explain to a six year old.

Davanee came running in, dirty and out of breathe.

"Dad?" asked Davanee.

"Yes?"

"Can I go play at Dillon's house?" asked Davanee.

"Yeah but only for a little while. Be back here by 7."

"What about Scotty and Mercy? Can they come too?"

"No. Tell them they need to come inside. I don't want them out there by themselves."

Davanee sent them in before she left. Scotty and Mercy played with some of the toys we left there in the guest bedroom.

"How old is Davanee?" asked Aunt Ruthie.

"8" I said.

"And you're how old?"

"22" I said, a little hesitantly, "I was 14 when she was born."

"That's young, really young" she said.

"So everyone says."  
"And what happened to her mother?"

"She left. She didn't even tell me about Davanee. Her brother just showed up here one night with the baby and a note. Last I heard she moved to California. We haven't heard from her since."

"That's sad. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did that to my child. Does Davanee know about this?"

"Not yet" I said.

We ended up eating dinner over there. I know it may sound like we ate over there all the time but we didn't. I left the girls there while I went to work. I quit my job at the movie theatre a couple of months after Anya died. At the time I had too much to do so I couldn't work a second job. I kept the job at the club because the pay and employee benefits were better.

The club was packed that night. There was some big yacht club party or something. You wanna know something ironic? They call it a yacht club but none of those people owned a yacht. I found it kind of funny.

There were a bunch of old people at the club that night, nothing out of the ordinary. Luckily, Sam was working with me that night. This was the same Sam that helped me pick out a Christmas present for Anya. Sam and I had grown close over the years. It wasn't the boyfriend, girlfriend type close, more like the brother sister type. She was always there whenever I needed her. For instance, if I needed a babysitter, she was there.

I tried to be there for her but it was difficult. When you've got 3 kids and you're working two jobs, everything seems to get a bit more difficult.

I got to go home early that night. Normally I had to work till midnight but I got off at 9 that night. Whenever people get off early, that usually means my manager Dave was in a good mood. I had to walk home. I left the car over at the house because it needed gas and I didn't have any money. I think I was old enough to walk home alone at night.

When I got to the house, I found Mercy and Scotty watching TV and Davanee sitting on the couch.

"What are you doing up?" I asked.

"Uncle Darry let us stay up so we could talk to Uncle Soda" said Davanee, "Uncle Soda's coming home on Tuesday."

"When did Soda call?"

"Just a couple of minutes ago. He hung up right as you got here" said Davanee.

"What else did he say?"

"Nothing else."

"Where's Uncle Darry?"

"He's in the kitchen payin' taxes" said Davanee. I walked into the kitchen to find Darry hovering over a bunch of bills.

"Need help?" I asked.

"No I got it" said Darry.

"Thanks for watching them. We should probably go, we have to stop by the grocery store before we go home."

"Alright. You're gonna be here when Soda comes home aren't you?" asked Darry, looking up at me.

"I dunno. We'll have to see what the week brings" I said, "well, I'll let ya get back to your bills."

"Ok, see ya guys later" said Darry. The girls gave Darry a hug goodbye.

"Dad, where are we going?" asked Davanee, once she noticed we weren't going home.

"We have to stop by the grocery store. It won't take that long, I promise." The grocery store parking lot was almost disserted. There were a couple of cars but not many. I had to carry Scotty inside. It's not that she couldn't walk by herself but she was getting really tired. Normally, I would've taken her home but we didn't have any food at home. Besides, I was just there to get stuff like milk and eggs.

We were walking down the isle when I saw Curly Shepard putting boxes of cereal on the shelf. I was hoping he wouldn't notice me. Curly and I hadn't seen each other in a long time, not since the twins were babies. Curly and I had gone our separate ways over the years. He's been in out and out of jail for the past couple of years.

"Ponyboy?" asked Curly.

"Hey, Curly" I said, acting like I was happy to see him.

"It's been awhile since we've seen each other. How ya doin'?" he asked.

"Pretty good. You?"

"Getting by. Who are they?" he asked, referring to the girls.

"This is Davanee, Mercy, and Scotty."

"Wait a minute, these can't be those babies I saw a couple of years ago."

"Yep, that's them."

"Wow, they're big" said Curly.

"It's kinda funny how kids grow up fast."

"Tell me about it. I've got one of my own now" said Curly.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, his names' Evan. He's only 5 months. So, what's this I hear about you teaching my little sister?" asked Curly. Curly's parents had another kid a long time after Angela. Her name was Brittney. She seemed to be a good kid, but she was really quiet.

"She's a good kid. Look, we should probably get home. They're about ready to fall asleep" I said.

"Alright. See ya later" said Curly as he went back to stacking the cereal boxes.

The kids fell asleep almost instantly when we got home. I had to stay up a little later. I had bills to pay and the rent was due in a couple of days. Fortunately, I didn't have to pay much for the apartment. Once all that was over, I went to bed and before I knew it, the weekend was over and it was time to go back to work. I really didn't feel good and I wanted to call in sick, but I couldn't. We needed the money.

Monday went by so slowly, I thought the day wasn't going to end. Finally, the last bell rang. Kids filled the halls as I left my room to get the kids. Aside from Mercy, Davanee, and Scotty, I had to pick up Dillon and Bo.

Davanee and Dillon's class room was packed with parents. A lot of the parents didn't want their kids riding the bus. Davanee had no need to ride the bus when I worked there.

Once Davanee saw me, she grabbed her stuff and practically ran to me, not waiting for Dillon.

"Having a better day?" I asked. When she came to see me before lunch, she was not in a good mood.

"Yeah" was all she could say.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Yeah. Charlie was making fun of me. He said I had funny clothes" said Davanee.

"Who's Charlie?"

"This boy in my class. He's right over there, with his dad." Davanee pointed to a boy who was getting his stuff together at his desk. His dad was helping him. The dad seemed familiar but I had a hard time trying to figure out where I had seen him before. It took me a minute to realize that the dad was Bob.

"Something wrong dad?" asked Davanee.

"No. Let's go get your sisters" I said, walking out of the room. Davanee and Dillon followed close behind.

"I thought Bo was coming home with us" said Dillon.

"She is. We gotta get her too" I said. The 2nd and 1st grade hallway was crowded with parents, most of which had no idea where to go. When I picked up Bo, I noticed she had a yellow note pined to her jacket. Those kind of notes usually were not a good thing.

"Bo, what happened?" I asked.

"I got in a fight with this boy in my class. He was makin' fun of one of my friends so I started hitting him. I made him cry and he had to go to the nurse" said Bo, almost as if she was happy about it.

"Oh, you are your father's daughter" I said.

"What's that mean?" asked Bo.

"It just means you're like your dad."

"Oh" was all she said. We then proceeded to get Mercy and Scotty. That was a nightmare. This school was still relatively new and hadn't gotten the dismissal routine down yet. After I had picked everybody up, we went home. I was done working for the day so I didn't have to go back to my room.

I had to drop Dillon off at Maddie's work. I offered to watch him while she worked but she knew I had my hands full that afternoon. She said that was nice of my to offer, but she was off in a couple of minutes. Bo, on the other hand, ended up staying with us for a little while. Dallas was supposed to come and pick her up around 4 but he never came. At first I didn't think anything of it. Dallas was normally late to everything except work. 8 o'clock rolled around and Dallas still hadn't come. I got Bo to do her homework and go to bed. She fought be a lot on that. She acted so much like Dallas, it was scary.

I gave her some of Davanee's old pajamas and let her sleep in Davanee's room. They just thought it was a slumber party. Once everyone was asleep, I called Johnny. If anybody knew where Dallas was, it was him.

"Johnny, where is he?" I asked.

"He's in jail" said Johnny.

"What?! Why?" I asked.

"He got arrested on his way home this afternoon."

"What'd he do?"

"You'll have to ask him that" said Johnny, "are you gonna go get him?"

"No, not tonight. Maybe tomorrow. A night in jail won't hurt him. I can keep Bo here for the time being" I said.

"You sure you don't want me to take her?" asked Johnny.

"No, it's no problem."

"You sure?"

"Positive. I'll talk to ya later."

"Alright. Bye" said Johnny, hanging up. Over the years, Johnny and I never really drifted apart. Once Davanee was born, all my friends from school abandoned me and they seemed to of forgotten about me, but Johnny never did that. He actually helped out.


	5. He's so lonely

I wanted to go down to the jail and set Dallas straight but I knew that wouldn't do any good. He doesn't listen to anybody. Besides, somebody had to watch the kids. I couldn't just leave them there at that time of the night. On a more positive note, Soda was coming home the next day. He wasn't coming home until after school.

I was up early the next morning because I had to get everyone else up and ready. Scotty was the first of the kids to get up. She was by far a morning person. The other three took a little longer. Davanee and Bo protested at first but they got up eventually. The last person to get up was Mercy.

That day went by pretty slowly. All of my classes were reading Romeo and Juliet which meant I had to hear the same thing over and over. At first it was ok but come 5th period it was getting really old. There's only so much Shakespeare I can handle.

After school, Davanee, Mercy, Scotty, and I went over to the house. Soda was supposed to be home by then. I let the girls go in the house first. I didn't even have to go inside to know that he was home. I could hear the girls yelling "uncle soda!" I walked inside to find that the girls had him surrounded in hugs and kisses.

"Is that what they do to you every time they see you?" asked Soda once they were gone.

"Yeah, sometimes. I'm glad you're back" I said, giving Soda a hug. It had been a long time since I had seen him. We really weren't apart that much. The longest we had ever been apart was when he went off to war. I absolutely hated being a way from him that long. I could only imagine what it did to him. Soda never really told us about his war experience. I figured he'd tell us if he really wanted to. He was never really the same after that. Sure, he was happy and he laughed and smiled all the time but there was something about him that seemed different.

"So how was it in California?" I asked.

"It was ok. It took a little while to get the store open but we finally did it" said Soda, "how's the new job going?"

"Well, it started off bad but it's better now. You'll never guess who's in one of my classes."

"Who?" asked Soda.

"Hannah and Savannah. Both of them are in my only junior class" I said.

"Are they those two girls that used visit you when you worked at the movie theatre?" asked Soda.

"Yep, that'd be them. It's kind of weird. I haven't seen them since I stopped working at the theatre" I said.

"That is a little weird" said Soda, "so how's Sam doing?"

"She's going pretty good. She's just finishing up school. She's gonna be a hotel manager" I said. Sam once told me it had been one of her life long dreams to run a hotel or country club. I couldn't blame her. Both of the jobs made good money, depending on what kind of hotel you're running of course.

"You know I think you should ask her out" said Soda.

"I dunno. It's been awhile since I've done that. It's been a long time since I've been on a date" I said.

"How long has it been?" asked Soda.

"Well it's been 8 years since I've asked anybody out and it's been about six since I've been on a date" I said. I didn't date anyone after Anya died. I always thought that every time I looked at the girl I would see Anya.

"You need to get back out there" said Soda.

"I dunno. I don't know how the girls would respond to that" I said.

"Talk to them about it. I'm sure they'll understand" said Soda. He made it sound so easy. There are several things that are difficult to explain to 8 and 6 years olds. Unfortunately, dating was one of them.

I thought about what Soda said over the next couple of weeks. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to go one on date. I didn't see the harm in that. But what would I tell the girls?

That Thursday night we went to see Darry and Soda. Darry had to work late so we didn't get to see him. I still hadn't talked to the girls by then. So I thought I would tell them that night. We were sitting in the living room while Soda was making dinner.

"Girls, what would you think if I started dating?" I asked.

"What's dating?" asked Scotty.

"Yeah, what's dating?" added Mercy.

"It's where Dad and a girl get to go out and have fun while we get to stay home" said Davanee.

"Who's the girl?" asked Mercy.

"Sam." Sam babysat them all the time. From what I could tell, they liked her. I know Sam adored them. Sam loved kids in general but she really loved Mercy, Davanee, and Scotty.

"I like her" said Mercy.

"Me too" said Scotty.

"I don't. I don't want you dating her" said Davanee.

"Why not?"

"Because I just don't. I don't like her. I don't think you need to go out with anybody anyways" said Davanee, her voice rising a little.

"Davanee" I said in a warning tone.

"No. I don't want you dating her. You've got us" said Davanee.

"Tell ya what" I said, "I'll talk to Sam about it tomorrow and if things don't workout, I won't go."

"You're lying. You're gonna go anyways" said Davanee, storming off down the hall towards her old room.

"Davanee, come here" I yelled, following her. I normally didn't yell at my kids but there were those rare occasions. This was one of them.

Davanee spun around in the doorway to face me. Tears were streaming down her face.

"Would you just tell me why you don't want me going out?" I asked, trying to be a little calmer.

"Because you don't need a girlfriend. We'll never see you. We already don't have a mom. If you start dating, it'll be like not having a dad too" said Davanee, this time a little calmer. That statement made my heart break. How could she think that? I would never do that to my kids.

"Is that what this is about?" I asked.

Davanee nodded her head yes.

"Oh, Baby, you don't have to worry about that" I said, getting down on her level. She looked up at me with red, teary eyes. "I would never to do that to you or you're sisters."

"Really?" asked Davanee as I wiped her tears away.

"Of course I wouldn't" I said, reassuringly. She smiled and gave me a hug.

"I'm sorry I got so mad at you" said Davanee.

"I'm sorry I got mad at you too." Davanee and I finally pulled away after a while.

"You guys stay here with Uncle Soda. I'm gonna go out for a little while, ok?"

"Ok" said Davanee.

I grabbed my jacket and car keys off of the coffee table. Soda didn't even bother to ask where I was going. He probably knew anyways

SODA POV

I couldn't stand to see my little brother so upset. The least I could do was offer to watch the kids for a little while. Pony was never quite the same after Anya died. Before Anya died, he smiled and laughed constantly. Now he still smiles and everything, but I tend to think that he frowns more often. I also thought he was lonely. I used to be like that too. When I went of to Vietnam, I felt so lonely over there. My family and most of my friends were all the way on the other side of the world. There were times where I wanted to cry myself to sleep at night, but I didn't for fear that the other soldiers might hear me.

"Uncle Soda, where'd daddy go?" asked Scotty.

"He went out. He'll be back in a little while" I said.

"Uncle Soda, what do you think about dad dating Sam?" asked Davanee.

"I think that'd be good for your dad" I said.

"Why?" asked Davanee.

"Well, I think he's kinda lonely. Don't get me wrong, he loves you guys to death but honestly I think he needs a little companionship" I said.

"What's companionship?" asked Davanee.

"It's means he needs to be around people his own age."

"You mean he needs to be around friends?" asked Davanee.

"Exactly. It's kinda like how you need to be around you're friends" I said.

"I think I get it now. Dad wants to date so he can make new friends" said Davanee, smiling.

"Something like that. You know for an 8 year old, you're pretty smart" I said.

"That's what everyone says" said Davanee, smiling again. I couldn't help but smile back.

PONY POV

The cemetery was disserted and cold. It had been a little while since I'd been there. I usually went there whenever something was bothering me. I made my way around the gravestones slowly yet surely, occasionally stubbing my toe on a few. Her grave was at the bottom of a hill, under an oak tree. The gravestone wasn't as big as the others but it worked. At the time, we didn't have enough money to afford a nice grave.

I sat down in front of the grave and just stared at it for a little while. I remember the funeral like it was yesterday.

Flashback

_That day was one of the coldest days of the year so everybody was wrapped up in jackets and whatever else you use to keep warm. For what seemed like the whole ceremony, I just stared at the casket. Davanee was sitting in my lap, dressed in black. She had a big, black bow in her hair. I remember her asking me several times before that day what happened to Anya. How do you explain death to a 2 year old?_

_The ceremony lasted for what seemed like hours. The ceremony was so long, Davanee fell asleep in my lap. Soda and Darry offered to take her from me but I said no. I didn't mind holding her. The ceremony ended that afternoon and everyone came over to our house afterwards. I really didn't feel like talking to anybody at that moment. Part of me just wanted to lock myself away in my old room, but I couldn't. I had to keep in mind that I wasn't the only sad person in that room. I was about to go say goodbye to some of Anya's friends from school when Davanee told me that both of the babies were crying. I went back to the guest room where we had set up there cribs temporarily. I tried everything to get them to stop crying but nothing worked. _

"_Need a hand?" asked Anya's mom from behind._

"_They won't stop" I said, sighing. I hadn't slept since they came home from the hospital._

"_Let me help" said Mom (she absolutely insisted on me calling her mom), taking Mercy from me. Mom rubbed her back gently and sang to her. Mercy was asleep within minutes._

"_How'd you do that?" I asked._

"_I used to do it to Anya all the time when she was a little girl. She loved it" said Mom, "why don't you try it on Scotty." So I did and sure enough, she fell back asleep._

"_Thanks, mom" I said , smiling._

"_You know if you and the girls ever need anything, don't hesitate to call. We want to help" she said._

"_Thanks."_

Thinking of that day brought tears to my eyes. I brushed them away hurriedly.

"Tonight wasn't a good night" I said, aloud. I know this might sound crazy but sometimes I would sit up here and talk. It felt like I was talking to Anya. It felt like she was still there and we were back at the park, lying under the oak tree talking to each other like we did when we were kids.

"Davanee got really upset with me tonight" I continued, "she didn't want me dating anybody. The kids got this crazy idea that if I started dating they would never see me and they'd be all alone. I couldn't do that to them."


	6. Date night

I was kinda nervous about going to work that night. It had been years since I'd ask someone out, so as you can imagine I was a bit rusty. My palms started getting sweaty. My hands were shaking. I hadn't been this nervous in a long time.

I pulled up to the country club and parked in the employee parking lot. Sam's car was a couple of spaces down from mine. I walked into the ballroom to find that Sam was waiting tables that night. I couldn't help but think she looked pretty even though she had been working all day. Sam worked at the club every day from 8-11. The only day she was off was Sundays. When she saw me, she smiled. She had a really pretty smile. She finished up the order and walked over to me.

"I thought you weren't coming in tonight" said Sam.

"I decided to come in anyways. We need the money" I said.

"How are the kids doing?" asked Sam as she started walking back to the kitchen.

"They're doing well" I said.

"That's good. Anything exciting happening in your life?" asked Sam.

"Not really. Soda came home on Tuesday. He's been out in California for the last couple of weeks."

"What was he doing all the way out there?"

"They're opening a store out there and they needed his help" I said.

"You know, I'm really glad you came in tonight" said Sam. She usually said that whenever she had something for me to do.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked.

"There's a girl's birthday party in the dinning hall. I would do it myself but I'm in charge of the kitchen tonight. Please" said Sam, giving me the puppy god face.

"Alright. How old is the girl?" I asked.

"15."

"Oh boy. As if I don't spend enough time around 15 year old girls" I said, walking out of the kitchen. I could hear Sam yelling a thank you over the banging of all the pots and pans in the kitchen. I walked down the hall and into the dinning hall. At first I thought most of the kids seemed somewhat familiar, but then something dawned on me. These were my students. The birthday girl was Morgan. I started taking the kids orders which was odd because it was usually them taking orders from me.

"Mr. Curtis, what are you doing here?" asked Andrew. Andrew was one of the more outgoing kids. He always had some smart remark.

"It's my second job" I said.

"How do you have time to grade all of our stuff if you're busy with a second job?" asked another kid. Her name was Sarah. Sarah looked a lot like Maddie, except she was younger and she didn't have a kid.

"It's easy" I said, "all you have to do is cut out sleeping, eating, and a social life." Most of the kids laughed at that. I really wanted to get away from the party and back to Sam but it was kinda hard when you've got 50 something kids. Once everyone was taken care of at the party, I thought I might step away for a couple of minutes. I walked into the kitchen to see what Sam was up to. She was sitting at a table in the corner, taking a break I assume. I sat down across from her.

"Long night?" I asked.

"Unbelievably long. How's your night going?" she asked.

"Pretty good. Hey, what are you doing tomorrow night?"

"I'm off, believe it or not. Why? You need a babysitter?" asked Sam.

"No, I was wondering if you would like to go out tomorrow night?" I asked.

"I'd love to. Where are we going?"

"Anywhere you wanna go and anywhere within reason" I said.

"I know this may sound a bit crazy but how about dinner at my house? You see, once a year my mom has this big, nice, sit down dinner with all siblings and grandparents. All the girls wear dresses, the boys were button down shirts and ties" suggested Sam. I thought about it for a moment. Meeting the family wasn't exactly what I had in mind for a first date but I guess it could work.

"I'd love to meet your family" I said.

Sam smiled and said "good. For a minute there I thought you would say no."

"What time do you want me there?"

"I dunno. Around 5 probably. You know how to get to my house, don't you?"

"I pass by it every day. Of course I know where you house is."

"Great. I'm sorry but I've gotta get back to work. You should get back to the party" said Sam. I smiled and said ok. I stopped in the door way and turned to face Sam. Her grin was from ear to ear, but she didn't know I was looking. I couldn't help but smile too.

I went back to the party only to find that somebody needed something. I was busy for the rest of the night. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go home until 1. The party ended at 11 but I had to stay and clean up. Cleaning up after kids is just the way I want to spend my Friday nights. But then again, that's probably how I would be spending it anyways even if I didn't have to work. I got home that night around 2 the girls were asleep and Two-Bit looked like he was about to fall asleep any minute.

"So how'd it go tonight?" asked Two-Bit. He knew I was going to ask Sam out.

"Good. She said yes" I said, "how'd everything go here?"

"Fine except Davanee wouldn't let me give her her shots before dinner. She ended up doing it herself" said Two-Bit.

"Why didn't she let you help her?" I asked.

"I dunno. Hey, I gotta get home. I gotta be up early tomorrow" said Two-Bit, grabbing his jacket and car keys.

"Why?"

"So I can be over at the house in time for breakfast" said Two-Bit. He was 26 and yet he was stilling going over to the house for breakfast almost every morning.

I was walking back to my room when I decided to check on the girls. Scotty and Mercy were sound asleep. Mercy was hanging halfway off her bed and Scotty had kicked all the covers off. I moved Mercy so she was back on the bed but I was careful not to wake her. I covered Scotty up and gave them both a kiss goodnight. After that I checked on Davanee. I found Davanee tossing and turning. Unlike the rest of us, Davanee never slept well. She still had those nightmares. It got to the point were she couldn't have anything close to her bed because she was hurting herself. I was about to walk to my room when Davanee started to wake up.

"Dad" said Davanee in a groggy voice.

"Hey sweetie" I said, walking into her room.

"Did you just get home?" asked Davanee.

"Yep. I had to work really late tonight" I said.

"Did you ask Sam about tomorrow night?" asked Davanee.

"Yeah. She said yes."

"That's good. I like her."

"I know you do. Now go back to sleep" I said, turning to walk out the room.

"Dad, I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked, turning back around.

"For all those mean things I said. I didn't mean to hurt you're feelings. I was mad" said Davanee.

"It's ok, sweetie. Why were you so mad?"

"Because I thought you would like her more than us" said Davanee.

"I would never like anybody more than you or your sisters. I love you guys. You, Mercy, and Scotty always come first" I said.

"Really?"

"Of course. Now, go back to sleep."

"Wait. Can I get a good night kiss?" asked Davanee. I walked back, gave Davanee a kiss, and pulled her covers up.

"Night Dad."

"Good night" I said, shutting the door. I loved the talks Davanee and I used to have in the middle of the night. I think it started back when she was a baby. When we where up for her 2 am feeding, I would tell her everything. When she got older, we started the bread and butter tradition. Whenever she had a bad dream, I'd always make her bread and butter in the middle of the night. We'd talk about a lot of things. She'd ask questions like why is the sky blue, are there boy ladybugs, or my personal favorite, is Dr. Seuss a real doctor?

The next day went by pretty fast and before I knew it, it was 3 o'clock. I was supposed to be at Sam's house by 5. Davanee helped me pick out my outfit. She said that my red tie looked better than all the rest. Once I was ready to go, I dropped Scotty, Mercy, and Davanee off with Soda. After that, I had to drive all the way over to Soc territory. Sam's family was rich, but you would never know. Sam doesn't act bratty like most of the rich girls. Her house was a castle compared to our apartment. It was a big three story house with a big balcony in the front, along with white columns.

There were already a lot of people there when I got there. I rang the doorbell and waited a couple of seconds for someone to answer. Sam greeted me with a nice, warm smile.

"Sorry, I'm a little late" I said.

"That's ok. Come inside" said Sam, opening the door a little wider. The house was really nice on the inside. There was a chandelier in the foyer.

"We're still waiting on my grandparents to get here" explained Sam, "come on, I'll introduce you to my family." Sam led me back to the kitchen where her mother was. Sam and her mom looked a lot a like. They even had the same red hair.

"Mom, this is Ponyboy" said Sam, "Ponyboy, this is my mom."

"It's nice to finally meet you" said Sam's mom, "please, call me Mrs. Dawson."

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Dawson" I said, smiling.

"We're so glad you could join us. We don't have too many guest over" said Mrs. Dawson as she went back to cooking.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the family" said Sam, leading me out of the kitchen.

"You're mom seems nice" I said.

"She is for the most part but don't worry. She likes you" said Sam. Sam lead me to what I assumed to be the family room. There were a bunch of kids sitting around, playing games and watching TV.

"These are my brothers and sisters. There's Ruthie who's 20, Annie who's 18, Katie and Baby who are both 16. Mikey who's 14. Jonah and Jackson who are both 13. Jess who's 11. Hannah and Elizabeth who are both 8, and last but not least is Lilly who's 6" said Sam, pointing to each one as she said his or her name.

"You've got a lot of siblings" I said.

"Yeah but you learn to live with it" said Sam, "I would introduce you to my dad but he's not home right now. You'll get to meet him later." Oh boy. I couldn't wait to meet her dad. I remember when I met Anya's dad for the first time. I seriously thought he was going to shoot me. I never got the chance to meet Jamie's parents. I was positive they didn't want to meet me. For all I know, they probably hate me.

Sam and I sat down with some of her siblings and started playing with Monopoly. I didn't win. I lost to a 14 year old. We waited for what seemed like forever for Sam's dad to get there, but he never did.

"He has to work late sometimes" explained Sam, "maybe he just forgot to call."

"Maybe" was all I could say. After about an hour of waiting, we all sat down to dinner. I sat between Sam and Ruthie. That was a very interesting for me. I wasn't accustomed to praying before dinner. We used to do it before mom and dad died but after that we just stopped for some reason. I pray sometimes but praying doesn't always work for me.

The dinner turned out to be very nice. To my surprise, the younger kids were pretty well behaved and pretty quite. I wish my kids were like that at dinner time. It's not that they weren't well behaved it's just that dinner time was very loud at our house.

About thirty minutes or so after dinner, Mrs. Dawson invited me to stay and have coffee and dessert with them. Unfortunately, I had to get home. Soda said something about wanting to go out later so I had to pick the girls up.

Sam walked me out to my car. It was starting to get cold out so we didn't stay out there long.

"I'm glad you could come tonight" said Sam.

"I had fun" I said and I wasn't lying.

"That's good. Well, I should probably get back inside. I'll see you at work" said Sam.

"Bye."

"Bye." With that, Sam turned and walked inside.


	7. Down'n' out

Dad, can we go to the fair?" asked Davanee on our way home from school.

"Why do you want to go to the fair?" I asked.

"Because it sounds fun and I've never been. Dillon says they got this ride where you sit in these giant teacups and you spin around really, really fast" said Davanee. She sounded really excited about it. As much as I wanted to take her, we couldn't afford it. We were on a tight, tight budget that month and, unfortunately, the fair didn't fit in the budget. I really felt bad about telling her we couldn't go. She gave me the puppy dog face but I didn't give in. Over the past 8 years, I've learned how to ignore that face.

"Besides, you have your recital this weekend. You don't wanna miss that, do you?" I asked.

"No. Are Uncle Darry and Uncle Soda coming to the recital?" asked Davanee.

"They're gonna try. Try not to be too upset if they can't make it ok?"

"Ok. You'll be there, won't you?" she asked.

"Of course I'll be there. You wouldn't be upset if Sam came with us, would you?"

"No. She can come if she wants" said Davanee. Davanee didn't really like Sam, but I could tell she was starting to grow on her. We went straight home that day. Normally we would stop by the DX or something but I had a lot of work to do. Once we got home, Mercy went off to play in her room while Davanee did her homework and Scotty colored at the kitchen table. I sat across from Scotty and worked on grading papers. I was about half way through the huge stack of papers when I noticed Scotty was scratching at her arms. At first I thought it was nothing. She was wearing long sleeves and I thought the sleeves were itchy. But after awhile, it didn't stop.

"Daddy, I'm itchy" said Scotty as she started scratch her back (or at least she was trying to).

"Scotty, come here." Scotty walked over to me, letting some of her crayons fall of the table and roll on the floor.

"Turn around" I said. She turned around and I lifted up her shirt. There were tiny red bumps all over her back. Only one thought went through my mind. 'Uh-oh, this can't be good.' I tried hard to remember if Scotty had chicken pox when she was a baby. I was hoping that I was right but no such luck. I took her to the doctors next day and sure enough, it was chicken pox. Unfortunately, none of my kids have had chicken pox before. After we went to the doctors, Scotty went straight to bed. She was running a fever and she was having a hard time trying not to itch.

I immediately called Darry as soon as I got Scotty to bed. I explained everything to him and he said Davanee and Mercy could stay over there until Scotty got better.

"What do you do to treat chicken pox?" I asked. I had them when I was about Scotty's age. Everyone in my family had them at one point.

"Rub some calamine lotion on her and give her a bath with baking soda. That's what mom did to you" said Darry.

"Thanks, Dar. I'll drop Mercy and Davanee off in a little while" I said.

"Oh, I'll come get them. You can't leave Scotty there by herself."

"You sure?" I asked.

"Positive. I've gotta go to the grocery store anyways so I'll just get them on my way home. It's no problem" said Darry.

"Thanks. I've gotta get back to grading papers now. I'll see you when you get here."

"Alright. Bye."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and finished grading the papers. I should've finished those the other night but with Scotty being sick, I couldn't. I finished grading the papers and started making dinner. It was just going to be 3 of us that night. Scotty was still asleep.

"How come Scotty's not eating with us?" asked Mercy.

"Scotty's very sick and she needs to sleep. You guys on the other hand are going to go stay with Uncle Darry and Uncle Soda until Scotty gets better. I don't want you guys getting sick."

"What does she have?" asked Davanee.

"Chicken Pox."

"Is that where you turn into a chicken?" asked Mercy. I loved it when kids asked questions like that.

"No, it's where you get all itchy" said Davanee.

"Not-uh. Bobby, this boy in my class, says you grow feathers and chicken legs. You gots to go live on a farm " said Mercy.

"Your sisters' not gonna turn into a chicken" I said. Once we were done, I did the dishes while Davanee and Mercy finished getting there stuff together. Darry came over about an hour or so later. Mercy and Davanee gave me a hug and a kiss before they left. I knew Davanee would be fine without me for a couple of days but I wasn't so sure about Mercy. Mercy has never been away from me for more than one night at a time.

After they left, I went back to doing the dishes. I was almost done when Scotty started waking up.

"Daddy!" called Scotty from her room. I walked in to find Scotty sitting straight up in her bed with tears in her eyes.

"I don't feel good" said Scotty between sobs.

"I know, sweetie. Come on, let's go take a bath. You'll feel so much better" I said. I picked her up and carried her to the bathroom. I grabbed a box of baking soda out of the kitchen first.

"What's that for?" asked Scotty.

"This should help with the itching" I said. I gave Scotty her bath, being careful.

"This feels good" said Scotty.

"Good. Now let's go put your pajamas on" I said. I helped Scotty out of the tub and carefully dried her off. I carried her to her room and helped her find some short sleeve pajamas. I tried to be careful when I was brushing her hair because there were so many knots, but it didn't work. It still hurt.

I tucking Scott in when she said "Daddy, tell me a story."

"I don't think I know any stories, sweetie. Davanee's the one with all the stories" I said, sitting on her bed.  
"Please" begged Scotty, giving me the puppy dog face. I couldn't resist, so I came up with a story. It was all about a little girl with chickenpox.

"That was good" said Scotty.

"There'll be another story tomorrow night, same time, same bed" I said, giving her a kiss goodnight. Like I said before, I already had chicken pox so it was ok.

I turned out the light and closed the door behind me. I really didn't have anything to do that night, so I watched TV. I kinda figured that Scotty would be up again sometime, so I didn't want to go to bed just yet. I was watching the news when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Dad?" came Davanee from the other end.

"Hey, baby. What are you still doing up?" I asked.

"I was calling to say goodnight" said Davanee.

"Alright. Good night" I said.

"Wait, Mercy wants to talk" said Davanee.

"Good night, daddy" said Mercy.

"Night sweetie" I said.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" asked Mercy.

"No, you guys won't see me tomorrow. You'll see me when Scotty gets better" I said.

"Alright. Bye, daddy."

"Bye Mercy" I said, hanging up. I hadn't even been one night and already I missed them. I had been years since Davanee and I had spent more than a night apart. Mercy and I have never really been apart.

After awhile, I started to get tired so I went to bed. I was sleeping well until Scotty's crying woke me up. I checked my clock before I got out of bed. It read 4 am. I sighed, put my feet on the cold floor, and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I walked into Scotty's room to find her sitting up in bed, crying.

"Baby, what's wrong?"

"I don't feel good" she said, "it itches." I picked her up and tried to calm her down. It worked but she didn't go back to sleep, so I had to make breakfast at 4:30 in the morning, and Scotty wouldn't let me put her down. Trying to make pancakes with one hand wasn't fun. Normally, I would've made eggs but whenever someone's sick at our house, I make pancakes. It's a weird tradition we started when Mercy and Scotty were born.

Finally, Scotty let me put her down. My arm was starting to hurt from holding her. She sat down at the table and waited patiently for her breakfast. It was at that moment I realized how sick she was. Normally, she would've been running around, laughing and caring on, but that day she was just sitting at the table quietly with a gloomy look on her face.

I ended up missing a whole week of work that week. My week was spent coloring and playing house with Scotty until she got better. She got sick on Saturday. Come Thursday most of the bumps were gone and the itching had stopped. Scotty ended up staying home on Friday too, just in case it wasn't completely gone. When Saturday came, Scotty was back to normal.

"Daddy, what are we doing today?" asked Scotty on Saturday morning.

"We're going over to see uncle Darry and uncle Soda. And then later on we're going to Davanee's recital" I said.

"Do I have to go to the recital?" asked Scotty.

"Yes. You can't stay home by yourself" I said.


	8. Lesson learned

I had to work all day that day. Nobody could watch the kids so I had to take them to work with me.

"Dad, what are we gonna do when you're at work?" asked Davanee as we were getting ready.

"You guys are gonna hang out at the pool while I work" I said.

"But it's the middle of September. The pool is freezing."

"I meant the indoor pool. It's heated" I said, buttoning up my shirt. I hate the fact that I had to wear long sleeve button down shirts. They had too much starch and they were extremely itchy.

"I'm ready" said Scotty coming down the hall with her bathing suit in her hands. For some reason, she didn't like wearing bathing suits when they were dry. She says they felt really itchy.

"Where's your sister?" I asked.

"Right here" said Mercy. She already had her bathing suit on.

Once I checked to make sure everyone had everything they needed, we left. It took us a little while to get to the club since it was raining. I really didn't like it when it rained. Usually we didn't get a lot of people on a rainy day. Once I got the girls settled, I went to Dave's office. Dave was the one who told us where we were supposed to work that day. I actually ended up working at the pool. I didn't mind working a the pool for the most part but on days where there were a lot of kids, it wasn't that great. Unfortunately, today was one of those days. Parents usually bring their kids to the pool when it's rainy outside.

I had to wait on a bunch of kids (3 of which were mine) that day. The indoor pool has this little soda shop place where people could eat if they were swimming. It wasn't in the same room as the pool but it was right next to it. The soda shop had this whole 50's theme.

DAVANEE'S POV

I was having a lot of fun swimming that day. We hardly ever got to go swimming, but when we did it was fun. I liked swimming. When I get older, I want to join the swim team at school.

I was about to go climb up to the high dive when some girl pushed me away from the ladder. I fell backwards and almost hit my head on the ground. The girl and her friends started laughing at me. I think the girls name was Sally.

"Move it, shorty" said the girl in a snobbish voice. I had seen her before. She went to my school. She was 12 and in the 6th grade. People thought she was really nice but I didn't think so. She had been giving me a hard time since the beginning of the year. Going to a new school was hard enough, but to have somebody making fun of you just made it worse. Sally was one of the prettiest girls at school. All the boys liked her. She had long blonde hair and was almost always tan. From what I hear, she got her boobs when she was 10. I was kinda hoping that I would get mine when I was 10.

Once Sally and her friends were gone, I climbed the ladder to the high dive. You might think that a little 3rd grader like me was scared but I wasn't. The only thing I was really afraid of was thunderstorms. I jumped off the dive, doing a flip before I hit the water. Once I got out of the pool, Mercy, Scotty and I went to the soda shop. Almost every table was full, except a couple of bar stools at the counter. We sat up at the bar. It was pretty cool to be that high up.

I was waiting for someone to take our orders when Sally and her friends came and sat right next to me.

"There was nowhere else to sit" explained Sally.

"I don't care where you sit" I said, looking over the menu and swinging my feet.

"Oh my gosh. Don't look now but here comes a hot waiter" said Sally to her friends. I know she wasn't talking to me but I had to look anyways. I looked in the direction they were looking but only waiter I could see was my dad.

"He's not hot" I said.

"Oh what do you know? You're a 3rd grader" said Sally.

"Yeah, you're just a 3rd grader" said one of Sally's friends.

"That's my dad" I said.

"Seriously?" asked one of the girls.

"Yeah" I said.

"He's coming this way" said Sally.

"So what'll it be, girls?" asked Dad, walking behind the counter. I let Sally and her friends go first. I figured they'd be mad at me if I didn't.

Dad put the order in and took ours next.

"Let me guess" said Dad, "Shirley Temple for Davanee, cherry coke for Scotty, and Pepsi for Mercy, right?"

"You got it" I said. Dad brought us our drinks within seconds.

I left Mercy and Scotty up at the counter while I went to go take my shots. Dad didn't really like me doing that by myself but he couldn't get away from work. When I was done, I walked back to the soda shop. I came back to find that Sally had started picking on my sisters. Nobody picks on my sister.

"Back off" I said, stepping between them.

"Make me."

"Why don't you just get outa here? Nobody likes you or you're little group of skanks, so why don't you just get lost."

"You little bitch" said Sally in a hissing tone. I could see my dad behind the counter out of the corner of my eye. I was debating whether or not I should hit this girl. Normally I'm not a fighter but I'll make some exceptions. I hit Sally square in the nose without thinking twice about it. She fell backwards, but was caught by her friends. She grabbed her nose as it started to bleed. She practically ran out of the place crying, her friends following close behind.

I stood their and looked around at everyone in the room. They all seemed really happy about the fact that I had hit Sally. Maybe she had picked on all of them at one point. But then I looked at my dad, and my rein of triumphant came to an end. He had this look of disappointment and anger. I couldn't take it. I ran out of the soda shop and in the direction of the dinning room.

PONY'S POV

I couldn't believe what I had just seen. Davanee hated fighting with people. My immediate reaction was to go after her. Luckily for me Jack was in charge of the soda shop that day. Jack and I had become friends over the years.

"Jack, can I……"

"Go" said Jack, cutting me off, "things will be fine here for a couple of minutes. I'll send somebody with a first aid kit to find that girl."

"Thanks" I said, walking out from behind the counter. I found Davanee in the dinning room, curled up in a ball in a chair. At first I thought she was just sitting their, but as I got closer I realized she was crying.

She looked up at me with red, teary eyes. "Daddy, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit her, honest" said Davanee immediately.

"It's ok" I said, pulling up a chair. There was no one else in the dinning room at that time so I figured it would be a good place to talk.

"Why'd you hit her?" I asked.

"I don't like her. She's been making fun of me ever since school started" said Davanee.

"Why does she make fun of you?"

"Because she saw me taking my shots once and she thinks there's something wrong with me. And today, she started picking one Mercy and Scotty because they're short" explained Davanee.

"You know what I think happened. I think you couldn't stand somebody being mean to your sisters because you love them so much. But Davanee, you gotta realize that fighting is not the answer. If you've ever got a problem with somebody, you gotta solve it with your words, not your fist, ok?"

"Ok" said Davanee. I wiped away some of the tears from her face.

"Now, I want you to go apologize to that girl."

Davanee sighed and said "fine. I'll apologize to Sally." Davanee and I got up and went to find Sally. She was sitting outside the girls bathroom with all her friends around her. She had two pieces of cotton stuck up her nose to stop the bleeding.

"Sally, Davanee has something she'd like to say to you" I said. Davanee stayed silent. I had to give her a slight pat on the back to make her say it.

"I'm sorry for hitting you" said Davanee.

"It's ok. I'm sorry for calling you a." Sally stopped and looked up at me, like she was debating whether or not to repeat the word. "bad name."

"I forgive you."


	9. Jail Bird

That week went by slowly yet surely. It took me a while to get caught up at work. All the kids bombarded me with questions about this new project they have to do. We were still studying Romeo and Juliet. For the project, they had to find a couple that resembled Romeo and Juliet in their lives. Of course, they didn't have to be dead. Unfortunately, I had to explain the project several times over. Finally, the last bell of the day rang. The girls came tome instead of me having to go to them.

"Dad, guess what" said Scotty.

"What?"

"We're having a Halloween party next week" said Scotty.

"Oh. What are you going as?"

"I wanna go as a ghost" said Scotty.

"I wanna be Snow White" said Mercy, drawing on the chalkboard.

"What about you, Davanee? What are you going as?" I asked.

"Minnie mouse" said Davanee.

"I thought you wanted to be Sleepy beauty" I said.

"That was last week. This is this week" she said. Every year around Halloween, Davanee had a tendency to changed her costume from week to week. I did that too when I was a kid. I remember one time when I was 7 I wanted to be a soldier. Then the next week I wanted to be Superman. I ended up going as a doctor.

"What are we doing for Halloween?" asked Davanee on the way home.

"Well" I began, "we can do one of two things. We can go over to the house, like was always do, or, Sam and her family have invited us over to their house for Halloween and we can go trick-or-treating with them in their neighborhood."

"I dunno" said Davanee.

"I think we should go with Sam" said Mercy.

"Yeah" agreed Scotty. I kinda found it funny that those two agreed on everything.

"How about we go over to Sam's first and if you guys are up for it, we can go to the house" I suggested.

"I like that" said Davanee. I smiled. I think Davanee was starting to like Sam. At first, she didn't like her. She would practically beg me to stay home so Sam wouldn't baby sit.

That night was pretty uneventful. It was a pretty normal night. I graded tests while Davanee did her homework and the other two played. I let Scotty and Mercy help me make dinner that night. They loved to help. Davanee got to set the table. She didn't really like setting the table but it had to be done.

After dinner, the girls got their baths and went to bed. From what I understand, they'd had a pretty long day. I on the other hand, wasn't ready to go to bed yet. So, I stayed up for a little while and watched TV. I didn't really like staying up because, to be honest with you, it got kinda lonely.

I was about to turn the TV off when I heard feet shuffling down the hall.

"Davanee, what are you doing out of bed?" I asked as she made her way into the living room.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"I don't wanna go to the slumber party at the studio tomorrow" said Davanee. Davanee's dance class was having a slumber party. Normally, she loved going to those things.

"Why don't you wanna go?" I asked. Davanee came and sat next to me on the couch. She didn't say anything.

"Oh come on, you can tell me" I said.

"It's for moms and daughters" said Davanee, "all the other girls are gonna be there with their moms and I'm going to be left out. Please don't make me go."

"You don't even want to try? Who knows? You might have fun" I said.

"Maybe" said Davanee.

"What if I got someone to go with you?" I suggested.

"Who?" asked Davanee.

"How about Maddie? I'm sure she'd like to go with you" I said.

"Really?" asked Davanee, smiling.

"Yeah. I'll give her a call in the morning but right now, you've gotta get to bed. You've got a slumber party to go to tomorrow. You don't want to be tired, do you?" I asked.

"No. Good night, dad" said Davanee, giving me a kiss.

"Night sweetheart."

"Will you tuck me back in?" asked Davanee.

"Sure" I said. I got up and followed Davanee back to her room. She climbed back into bed and I tucked her in again. She was asleep within minutes. I stood in the doorway and watched her for a little while. I felt terrible about the fact that the girls did have a mom. I knew when they were little it would be ok, but as they got older they would need someone else to talk to. There were definitely going to be things that they couldn't talk to me about.

Sometimes I wonder about Jamie. I wondered what she was up to.

JAMIE'S POV

The cell was silent, dark, an cold. My head was spinning as I lay quietly on my bed. I had no idea how I had gotten there. One minute, I was at this huge party with all of my friends and the next I being hauled away in a cop car. A long, hard night of partying can do that to you. We all knew there was to be no partying on campus at all but we didn't care. I should've known. My parents said if I was arrested again, they would stop paying my tuition.

I found it funny that I was 22 and all I could think "what are my parents going to say?" My parents lived a long was away. They lived all the way in Orange County. We moved out here when I was 14. My parents bought this big house on the beach. It took some time getting used to, but I grew to love it eventually. A couple of years later I moved out and went to college.

I laid on the cold bed and tried desperately to remember what had happened. I closed my eyes and suddenly it call came rushing back to me. It's was my friend's birthday. I had one too many beers that night and thought it would be a good idea to go streaking through the building. I was having so much fun and drawing so much attention to myself. I received several whistles as I made my way down the hall to the main entrance of the building. That's when the cops caught me. Somebody had called and complained early. I was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time, doing the wrong thing. The cops told me to grab some clothes. Once I pulled a shirt over my head, they slapped those cuffs on.

"Coryell, let's go" said the officer, unlocking the cell.

"Where am I going?" I asked.

"Your friend over their just baled you out" said the cop, guestering to my manager. I had called her instead of my parents. I figured of all people she would understand. She used to be a big partier too.

"I really shouldn't be doing this" said my manager, Christine as she led me to her car.

"Thanks" I said as I climbed in.

"What the hell where you thinking? I should fire you because of this" said Christine, outraged.

"Please don't fire me. This will be the third job I've lost in the past month" I pleaded.

"I'm not going to fire you. You just don't seem to get it, do you? You can't keep going like this. Partying every night till one in the morning. It's not healthy. It's starting to effect you. You always look exhausted. Your work effort is steadily decaying. I bet your grades are slipping too" she said. She was right. My grades were slipping. I went from a B to an F in my English class.

"Do you have kids?" asked Christine.

I thought about it for a moment. Technically speaking, I did have a kid but I don't know her. She's back in Tulsa. I thought about her a lot. I missed her. It wasn't until later that I realized I would probably never get a chance to know her.

"I did" I said.

"Did?"

"I had a baby when I was 14. I left her with her dad when she was 2 weeks old. I've only seen her once since" I said.

"That's sad. Where is she?"

"Last I checked they were in Oklahoma" I said. I wanted her with me in California. Sometimes I just wanna go back to Tulsa and see her. I've tried to a number of times but then I remembered what I said to Pony the last time we saw each other. I said it would probably be a good idea if I didn't interfere. I think that would make things difficult for Davanee. I didn't want to make things hard on her. That's the last thing I wanted to do.


	10. Why can't I be happy?

I called Maddie the next morning. She said she'd be more than thrilled to take Davanee to the slumber party, but I had to watch Dillon. Dillon wasn't that bad. Sure, he was a little odd, but that's ok. It's not so bad to be different.

Maddie dropped Dillon off and picked Davanee up around 4ish. Davanee started packing the night before. Like I said, she loves to go to slumber parties.

"You sure you got everything?" I asked.

"Yes. I checked and double checked. I have absolutely everything" said Davanee.

"Ok. Have fun, alright" I said, giving her a hug and a kiss goodbye.

"Bye Dad."

"I'll drop her off around 11 tomorrow" said Maddie.

"Ok. I don't have to work tomorrow, so I should be here. Hey, thanks again for taking her" I said.

"Oh it's no problem. I don't really get to do this kind of stuff any more" said Maddie. Maddie gave Dillon a hug and a kiss goodbye before she left. From what I understand, Maddie and Dillon had never really been apart. The only time they were apart was when she was in the hospital after she broke up with Joey. She hasn't seen or talked to Joey since. I've seen him a couple of times since. He's got a new girl friend now. I saw them at the movies a couple of weeks ago. She was just a kid and yet she was hanging all over him. Anya was never like that. Jamie was but that was only because she was drunk.

Maddie's dated other guys since. She's currently dating this guy who's in her science class. Maddie decided to stay behind and go to community college. She was accepted into several different prestigious schools but she stayed. She also said she didn't have the money to go to a big college.

DAVANEE'S POV

I was so excited about the party. It had been awhile since I had been to one. They do a lot of mother daughter things at my dance class, stuff that I can't do. I was glad that Maddie was taking me. Maybe this time I won't feel so left out. The girls in my dance class didn't know I didn't have a mom. They thought that she stayed home all day, which was kinda normal back then. When we got to the studio, I could see about 20 or so girls with their moms. They looked so happy. Why couldn't I be happy?

"Davanee!" called some of my friends from the other side of the room.

"Can I go play?" I asked Maddie.

"Sure. I'll just be over here" said Maddie. I ran off and joined some of my friends. Their was Jenna, this girl from school, and Meagan, who I had met over the summer. Jenna's mom was the homeroom mom at school. She did everything for us. She threw us parties, planned field trips, all that stuff. She was one of those moms who did everything with there kid, but Jenna was an only child.

Meagan on the other hand had a couple of siblings. I'm not really sure how many. Her mom was really nice but she was always busy. I'm surprised she could take time to come to the party.

"Where's your mom?" asked Jenna to me.

"She's over there" I said, pointing to Maddie.

"She's your mom? She's not as old as my mom" said Meagan.

"She don't look like you neither" said Jenna.

"So?" I asked.

"Besides, Stacey says you ain't got no mom" said Jenna, crossing her arms.

"She's wrong" I said.

"Face it" said Meagan, "you don't have a mom."  
"Geez, what'd you do to make her leave? You must've been really bad or something" said Jenna.

"I don't know what you're talking about" I said, my eyes watering a little. As far as I knew, Anya was my mother. I may not remember her that much, I do remember that she treated me like a daughter should be treated. Jenna and Meagan just laughed as I started to cry. I didn't see what was so funny. I ran past Maddie and out of the studio. Maddie followed closely behind.

"Davanee, what happened?" she asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it" I said.

"Davanee whatever it is you can tell me" said Maddie.

"Just take me home. Please, just take me home" I begged through tears.

Maddie sighed and said "alright. I'll take you home." We got our stuff together and left. The car ride home was silent. I was to upset to talk. As soon as we got home, I went straight to my room and slammed the door.

PONY'S POV

"What happened?" I asked when Maddie came in.

"I don't know. She wouldn't tell me" said Maddie.

"I'll go talk to her. Would you mind watching the kids for a little while?" I asked.

"Sure" said Maddie, joining the kids in the living room. I walked back to Davanee's room and knocked on the door.

"Go away."

"Davanee opened the door."

"No."

"Come on, please." A couple of minutes passed before she finally opened the door. I walked in to find her sitting on her bed. Her eyes where bloodshot and she had tears running down her face. I sat down on the bed next to her and put my arm around her.

"What happened?" I asked.

"These girls started making fun of me" said Davanee.

"Why where they making fun of you?"

"Because they knew Maddie wasn't my mom. I tried to tell them what happened but they didn't listen. I tried to tell them that Anya was my mom but she died" said Davanee. There was a moment of silence between us. I was debating whether or not to tell her the truth. She had every right to know but at 8 years old, I don't know how she would handle it.

"Anya's not my real mom, is she?" asked Davanee, looking up at me.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"I kinda remember her and I've seen pictures. She doesn't look at all like me. Mercy and Scotty look like her, but I don't" said Davanee.

I sighed. I didn't want to tell her. I would tell her one day, but I don't think that was the right time.

JAMIE'S POV

My parents invited me to eat dinner at home that night. I didn't go home as often as they wanted me to. I was too busy living the college life.

I arrived at the house around 5ish. I found it kinda funny that only 3 people lived in a house that was meant for 10. My parents had another baby when we moved out here. Her name is Doree. She's 8 and she has bleach blonde hair that goes down to her shoulders. She's the cutest thing you've ever seen.

"Jamie!" yelled Doree, running out of the house to greet me.

"Hey shortie" I said, smiling down at her.

"I missed you" said Doree, giving me a hug.

"I missed you too." I looked up to see my parents walking towards us.

They both gave me hugs and kisses.

"So how's school going?" asked Mom as we walked in the house.  
"It's going fine" I said, "I'm struggling a little in my English class but other than that it's going ok."

"Well, you've got time to bring your grades up. You must be starving" said Mom.

"Yeah. I haven't eaten any real food in weeks" I said. I lived off of TV and take out for the most part.

"Your mother's been cooking up a storm all day" said Dad. My mom didn't cook that often, but it was really good when she did. She made the best fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Doree ran to go play in the living room while I joined my parents in the kitchen.

"It's good to have you home" said Mom.

"It feels good to be home" I said.

"I bet it'd feel even better if we had the whole family here" said Mom.

"Mom, you know Peter can't get away from work" I said.

"That's not what I'm talking about" said Mom.

"Oh" was all I could say. I knew where this was going. We had this conversation every time we had a family get together. My parents never got a chance to meet Davanee, and as you can imagine they were pretty upset about that. She was their only grandchild.

"When are you going to try to get that child out here?" asked Mom.

"Mom, I can't. I don't want to do that to her" I said.

"Jamie, she's your daughter and our granddaughter. The least you can do is try to get her back" said Mom.

"Mom, she's probably happy where she is with her dad. I don't wanna take that away from her. Maybe she'll come out here to stay with me when she's older" I suggested. I always hoped she would. I thought that maybe when she was 13 or 14 she could come out here, if she wanted to of course, and we could get to know each other. It was just some stupid little fantasy that my mind had created over the years. I knew there was no way I could make up for everything I missed.

"I don't see why you gave her up in the first place" said Mom, taking out the plates.

"Mom, we've been through this before. You know as well as I do that I wouldn't be able to take care of her. I wanted to do what I thought was best for her" I said, helping my mom set the table.

"And you thought sticking her with some boy would be what's best for her?" asked mom.

"To you, he's just some boy. But to me and to her, he's not" I said.

"Your father and I have never even seen her" said mom. I did feel bad about that. They should've met her at least once before I gave her up. Maybe one day they'll meet, but I didn't see that happening in the near future.


	11. Scream

The conversation Davanee and I had that night just about killed me. It hurt me to see her so upset about not having a mom, and it hurt me even more to know that kids made fun of her because of it. It wasn't her fault. If it was anybody's fault, it was mine. I tried dating after Anya died but it just didn't work. I stopped after awhile. Then there was Sam. We went on that one date a couple of weeks ago, but that was it. Sam was very devoted to her work, just like I was devoted to my kids and work.

"I've got an idea" I said. I was still in Davanee's room talking to her.

"Why don't we go see Uncle Two-Bit and Uncle Johnny?" I suggested. It was still kinda early so I figured it'd be ok.

"Can we?" asked Davanee, a smile crawling across her face.

"Yeah sure" I said. Davanee ran out of the room to go tell Mercy and Scotty. I invited Dillon and Maddie to join us but she said they had to get home.

We ended up walking to the Tastee Freeze that night. I didn't put gas in the car on the way home. When we got there, the place was packed. My memory went back to the first time I took Davanee there. Johnny and I had just come from the park. I remember giving Bob a black eye when he made that little comment about Davanee growing up to be a screw up. Bob and I have had quite a number of incident's over the years. Normally, I didn't mind when it was just between him and I, but when he dragged my kids into it, it was another story.

We found a booth up front.

"Where's Uncle Johnny?" asked Scotty, looking around.

"I don't know. I don't see him" I said.

"He's right there" said Davanee. He was all the way across the room, taking people's orders. Now Johnny hadn't really changed much over the years. Sure, he was more talkative but he still reminded me of a puppy that had been kicked too many times. Johnny has had a couple of girl friends over the past years, but none of them really lasted. But the girl he's currently dating (her name is Katie) has been around for almost a year.

I liked Katie. She was good for Johnny.

Johnny finished taking the order and put it in with the cook. He didn't notice us until a couple of minutes afterwards.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" asked Johnny.

"We thought we'd stop by a visit for a little while" I said.

"Ms. Davanee I thought you had a slumber party to go to" said Johnny.

"I didn't wanna go" said Davanee.

"You, not go to a party? I'm shocked" said Johnny. Davanee giggled.

"Well, I gotta go give these people their drinks. I'll be right back" said Johnny, walking away.

JOHNNY'S POV

It was nice to see Pony and the kids. I didn't really get the chance to see them that often. I was too busy working, and whenever I wasn't working I was with Katie. Katie and I had been dating for almost a year. That was the longest relationship I had ever been in. We didn't argue a lot like some couples do, which is weird because we're the exact opposite of each other. She was loud and outgoing while I was quiet and normally kept to myself.

I gave the people their drinks and went back to visit with Pony. I found it kinda funny that Pony didn't really change as far as character and personality go. Even though he's 22, I can still see that 14 year old kid pushing the baby stroller.

Katie and I had talked about having kids before. She wanted kids, but I wasn't so sure. Sure, I could take care of kids but only for a little while.

"So how are things with you and Katie?" asked Pony, giving the girls a quarter. They wanted to get stuff out of the vending machines.

"Pretty good. I've been so busy with work lately, I don't get to see her a whole lot" I said.

"I know how that feels" said Pony.

"So how are things between you and Sam?"

"Ok, I guess. We only went out on that one date" said Pony.

"So she wouldn't mind you going on a date with another women?" I asked.

"I guess not. Why?" asked Pony.

"Because Katie has this friend and she thinks you two should meet. Her name is Amber" said Johnny.

"I dunno."

"It's just one date. It's not gonna kill ya to try, is it?" I asked.

"I guess not. When do I get to meet her?" asked Pony.

"Well, she's in town Saturday and Sunday so Saturday night I guess" I said.

"And where would we go?" asked Pony.

"I dunno. It's your date. But she'll be here around 4ish on Saturday. You guys can do whatever you want from their" I said. Unfortunately, I had to cut this visit short. I had to get back to work.

PONY'S POV

Johnny went back to work while I sat their and though about what we had talked about. I guess Sam wouldn't mind if I dated someone else. I mean, we never really said we were going out. Besides, how bad could one date be?

The girls came running back to the table. They showed me everything they had gotten out of the machines. Mercy got one of those little bouncy balls. She absolutely loved bouncy balls. We had thousands of them at home.

"What are we doing after this?" asked Mercy.

"I dunno. How would you guys like to go see Uncle Darry and Uncle Soda?" I asked.

"Can we?" asked Scotty, smiling.

"Yeah, if you want to. We'll go as soon as we're done here" I said. Of course, they raced through their dinners. I had to remind them occasionally that they had to slow down or else they would get sick, and if they got sick we'd have to go home. They slowed down once I said that. Once we were done and said goodbye to Johnny, we made our way to the house. It was really dark out and I should've known better not to be walking around the neighborhood at night.

"Hey Scotty watch how high I can bounce this" said Mercy. She threw the ball down as hard as she could. She tried to catch it but it bounced again and went into an alley. I debated whether or not I should go get it. Like I said before, Mercy had a lot of other bouncy balls at home. But on the other hand, she would throw a fit and wouldn't stop crying till I got it. I really didn't want to see her cry.

"I'll get it" I said, "you guys stay right here."

I walked slowly into the alley, turning around a couple of times to make sure the kids were ok. I searched high and low for the ball, but I couldn't find it.

"Looking for this?" came a deep voice. I turned around to see an older Soc holding the ball. It had been years since I was jumped. When I got married, I became less involved with the whole grease, soc thing.

"Who are you?" I asked. I couldn't see the guy's face because it was so dark out. The guy didn't reply.

"Who are you?" I asked again. Still no answer. I was about to walk away when I saw 3 more guys advancing towards me. I couldn't really see them, but from what I could tell they looked big. I tried to get away but they had me down in a second. I tried to fight back, but when the odds are against you it doesn't work. One of the guys kicked me really hard in the back of the head. I tried to stay awake but it was no use. Everything went dark. The last thing I heard was a little girl scream.


	12. Back in my arms again

The sun was starting to rise as I fluttered my eyes open. I was lying in the middle of a narrow alley. I sat up slowly. My head was still hurting. I tried desperately to remember what happened the night before but I couldn't.

I stood up slowly and brushed myself off. I walked out of the alley, holding my head where it hurt. This road looked somewhat familiar. It took me a minute to realize that was the road I took to get from the Tastee Freeze to my old house. Thinking of the Tastee Freeze brought memories of the night before rushing back. I remember having to walk to the house. I remember the bouncy ball and the socs. I also remember hearing one of the girls scream. A feeling of panic set in. I had never lost one of my kids before.

"Davanee!" I called. There was no answer. I walked up and down the alley and around some of the houses. I called their names several times but there was no answer. I walked down to the park thinking they might have gone there. The park was completely empty. I was about to check the house when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around to see Johnny walking towards me.

"Pony? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I've lost my kids" I said, looking around frantically.

"What?"

"We got jumped last night. I got hit so hard, I was knocked out. When I woke up this morning, the girls weren't there" I said.

"I'll help you look for them" said Johnny. We searched the park high and low but they weren't there. I thought maybe they had gone to the house since they didn't know how to get back to the apartment. The house was silent, which meant Darry and Soda were asleep. I was careful not to slam the door. We searched every room of the house, but they weren't there.

"What are you doing here?" asked Soda, still half asleep.

"I can't find them" I said.

"Can't find who?"

"Davanee, Mercy, and Scotty. They're gone" I said. I explained everything to both Darry and Soda. They wanted to help but both of them had to get to work. I left before they got a chance to say goodbye. The next place I checked was Dallas's. I didn't think they would be there but stranger things have happened. I knocked on the door softly but loud enough to be heard.

Their was no answer. I figured they where still asleep so I left them alone. The girls wouldn't be there anyways. I even looked at Two-Bit house, but of course they weren't there. I began to panic even more. The thought of not knowing where your kids are is terrible.

"Why don't you try the police station?" suggested Johnny.

"You think they'd be there?" I asked.

"Yeah. That's normally where they take the lost kids" said Johnny.

"Alright. I'll see you later I guess" I said. I had to walk all the way down town to the police station. I didn't have the car so it took me a pretty long time. It was only 12 and already I wanted to go to bed, but I couldn't. I had to find my kids first. I figured if they weren't at the police station, the least I could do was file a missing persons report.

When I got to the police station, I saw a lot of kids sitting in the waiting room. None of them were. I sat down in the corner of the room and waited for the room to clear out a little. I watched as some of the parents came and got their kids, smiling and crying as they hugged them and smothered them with kisses. I wish I could've been one of those parents. I'd love to be one of those parents. Unfortunately, some of the kids were never claimed. I often wondered what they did to kids like that.

Once the room had cleared out a little, I walked up to the officer at the front desk. She looked very busy. I was about to go sit back down when she asked "can I help you, sir?"

"I'd like to file a missing persons report."

"Fill out these forms, sir. Describe the missing persons to the best of your ability" said the officer. I took the forms and sat back down. I filled all of them out, making sure that the descriptions were very detailed. I started with Davanee. She had dirty blonde hair that went a little past her shoulders. She had hazel green eyes, like mine. She was wearing a pink shirt, jeans, and a white hat the last time I saw her.

Scotty had blonde hair that went down past her shoulders. She had hazel eyes that could be blue at times. The last time I saw her she was wearing a green shirt with flowers on it and jean shorts along with green converse.

Then there was Mercy. She had light brown hair that also went down past her shoulders. She had brown eyes, like Anya. Last I remember, she was wearing a blue shirt with jean shorts. She was also wearing green sandals.

Once I was done, I gave the forms back to the lady at the desk.

"We'll call you as soon as we hear anything" said the lady, looking up at me.

"So now all I can do is wait?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

I went home and just waited. There's wasn't anything I could do. I started doing things that I thought might help take my mind off it, but they didn't help. Somehow, my mind always wondered back to my kids. It almost always does.

I found it almost impossible to sleep that night. The thought of not knowing where my kids were kept me up half the night. Whenever I did fall asleep, I always had terrible nightmares about what was happening to them.

I woke up early that morning. I was used to Scotty waking me up early and I half expected her to come running in the room, but she didn't. For once, the apartment was silent. I got up and started making breakfast. That was the worst breakfast I had ever had.

DAVANEE'S POV

I woke up freezing cold that morning. I had no idea where I was. The room I was in was incredibly dark and cold. I could see Scotty and Mercy sleeping right next to me. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to get out of there and go home, but I didn't know how to get out and I didn't know how to get home.

I was about to get up when a man opened the door. It was the same guy from last night.

"Come with me" said the guy, pulling me out of the room. He led me to the kitchen.

"This is where you are going to work" said the guy.

"Work?" I asked.

"You work for me" said the guy, "you will be a servant. You are to come when you hear the bell ring. If you fail to come, you'll be punished."

"What about my sisters?" I asked.

"They'll be given jobs soon" said the guy, walking out of the kitchen. There was another girl in the kitchen with me. She looked a little older than me. Maybe 12 or 13. She was very pale and she had cuts and bruises all over her arms and legs.

"Whats your name?" asked the girl.

"Davanee" I said, "what's yours?"

"Amy. Looks like we'll be working together" said Amy.

"What's his name?" I asked, referring to the guy.

"That's Joe. You better do what he tells you to do, or else you'll get hurt" said Amy. Just then I heard a bell ring.

"I better go" I said. I tried to find where the bell was coming from. The house was so big, it was easy for someone to get lost. I eventually found my way to the library, where I saw Joe sitting on the couch, reading a book.

"Bring me something to drink" ordered Joe, keeping his eyes on the book the whole time.

"What would you like?"

"Soda" said Joe. I hurried back down to the kitchen and brought Joe his soda, but of course it was the wrong one. I was making my way back down the stairs the glass in my hand when I started to get very dizzy. I just realized I had gone almost a whole day without taking my medicine. I ended up falling down the stairs, spilling the soda all over the new, white carpet. Amy came running in to see what was wrong. I tried my best to tell her what was happening, but it was hard. She ran back to the kitchen and got me a glass of apple juice. A couple minutes later, I started to settle down.

"Feeling better?" asked Amy.

"Yeah" I said, getting up, "sorry about the carpet."

"You better get Joe his soda before he gets mad" advised Amy, "I'll clean this up." This continued for a couple of days. My sisters and I worked for Joe without being paid. I prayed that dad would come and find us, but he didn't come. I began to think that maybe he didn't want us back. Maybe he was happy that we were gone.

A couple more days passed and a new girl came. She looked to be about my age but I didn't know. She didn't say a word, but she did what she was told. Out of all of us, I think she was the best servant.

I was about to go to bed one night when I noticed the new girl wasn't there. At the time I thought nothing of it. I fell asleep almost instantly that night. It had been a long hard day. Joe had made us do a lot of work, mostly cleaning and stuff so the house would be ready for his party. At the party, we had to pretend like we were his daughters or something. After all, he was old enough to be my dad.

I was awoken that night by the sound of sirens and loud voices. Mercy, Scotty, and I ventured out of the room to see what the noise was. It turns out the new girl had snuck out of the house and called the cops. Through the front window, I could see a cop slapping cuffs on Joe and towing him away in a police car.

Then, a lady officer came and asked us some questions like what happened while we were here. I answered as best I could.

The lady officer was about to walk away when she stopped and looked straight at me. "What's you name?"

"Davanee Curtis."

"And what about you two? What are your names?" asked the lady, referring to Scotty and Mercy.

"Scotty."

"Mercy."

"Unbelievable" said the lady, "Mark come here." An officer, who I guess was Mark, started walking towards us.

"These kids match the missing persons description we got a couple of weeks" said the lady in disbelief, "how would you guys like to go home?"

"Can you take us home?" asked Mercy.

"Well, we can take you to the station. You're parents can come and get you." Mark let us ride in his police car. It was kinda cool. He played the siren and flashed the lights for us a couple of times. Cars even moved out of the way for us. I kinda felt like a princess be escorted through town. Once we arrived at the police station, Mark told us to wait patiently while he called Dad.

PONY'S POV

Yet another sleepless night. I began to think that maybe I was never going to get them back. Maybe they'd always be lost.

I was about to try to go back to sleep when the phone rang. I sighed, thinking it was Darry or Soda. They had been calling me a couple times a day to make sure I was ok. At first, I thought it was nice but after awhile it got on my nerves. To my surprise, it wasn't my brothers.

"Mr. Curtis?" came a voice from the other end.

"Yes?"

"This is officer Mark at the downtown police station. We found your children. We have them with us at the station. We'll need for you to pick them up as soon as possible" said officer Mark.

"Oh thank. Thank you so much. I'll be right down" I said. I pulled on some clothes and grabbed the keys off the counter (I put gas in the car.) I was at the station in less than 10 minutes. When I walked in, I was greeted by my girls hugging tightly. I bent down and just about smothered them in hugs and kisses. I could feel tears coming. They were back in my arms again.

"Daddy, can we go home?" asked Scotty.

"Yeah, let's go home."

"Dad" said Davanee, "I don't feel good." Before I could say anything in response, she passed out. Davanee ended up having to stay in the hospital a couple of days due to lack of insulin. It was really scary to see her hooked up to all those machines, but I was happy to have her back.


	13. Reunited and it feels so good

Jamie's POV

It was so strange to be back in Tulsa again. I hadn't been back since I left 8 years ago. I had to go back to Tulsa because Pete wanted be to watch his house. He had to go out of town for a little while. Everything looked the same, even the old house. My house was in the middle class part of town. It was a nice two story house. So many memories came back as I stood on the front porch. I remember standing here and having my mom take pictures of me on my first day of school. I remember being escorted down the porch for my first date. I even remember taking the pregnancy test in the bathroom upstairs. My mind went racing back to that day

_I remember being very distracted at breakfast that morning. My mom was trying to talk to me about our agenda for that day. I wasn't listening. _

"_Are you alright?" asked mom, bringing me out of my daydream._

"_Yeah" I said._

"_Are you sure? You look a little flushed" said Mom, putting her hand on my forehead, "you're not running a fever. Maybe you should stay inside today."_

"_No, I'm fine. It's just cramps" I said, lying. Truth is, my time of the month hadn't come yet. It was suppose to come a couple of days ago, but it didn't. At the time, I didn't think much of it. I thought it was normal. But that morning, I began to thinking differently. I rolled out of bed nauseous. I threw up almost immediately. And when I looked at my cereal that morning, I wanted to throw up again._

_My mom and I went about our activities that day, which consisted of going to the mall, the bank, and a couple of other places. When we got home, my mom got started on dinner while I went up to my room. I called my best friend, Jenny. Jenny was about a year older than me and she could drive. I explained everything to her and she said she would be over in a couple of minutes with a couple of pregnancy test._

_I took the test and Jenny waited with me. We set a timer so we would know when to check them. The time went off, and I took a deep breathe. I grabbed one of the test. It was positive, along with the others. My parents were going to kill me. I cried myself to sleep._

It had been years since I thought of that night.

The people who lived in the house let me take a look around. It looked almost exactly the same on the inside too, except a couple of things were different. My room, for instance, had been turned into a guest room. Most of the walls had been repainted and the carpet had been redone.

After I was done inspecting the house, I decided to drive around for a little while. As I winded up and down the streets, memories came rushing back to me. As I drove past the old Tastee Freeze, I remember spending summer days their with my friends. Some of my friends got jobs there. Whether or not they were still their, I had no idea. I drove past the drive-in a couple of times. I had my first date there. I think the guy's name was Mark, but I wasn't sure.

Eventually, I had to stop and get gas. I found a DX in the bad section of town. I had been their a couple of times when I was a kid. I do recall this rather cute employee that worked there. I can't remember his name, but I do remember thinking he should be in a movie or something.

Once I was done pumping gas, I decided to go inside and get myself something to drink. The store was kinda small, but I liked it. It had that old, retro feel. You don't see that very often. When I walked in, I noticed a little girl sitting behind the counter. I couldn't help but think she should be in school, but she did look a little pale.

I grabbed a Pepsi and brought it up to the counter.

"Wait one second" said the girl, "Uncle Soda, you got a customer!"

There was a moment of silence between the girl and I. It was kinda creepy. The girl kinda looked like me. I would've talked to her but her uncle came in.

The girl ran off to the back of the store.

"She's cute" I said as the guy rung me up. I think the girl said his name was Soda.

"She's not mine. She's my niece" said Soda, "but she is cute."

"I know it's not really any of my business, but shouldn't she be in school or something?" I asked.

"Yeah, but she just got out of the hospital and her dad couldn't afford to miss another day of work so I offered to watch her today. That'll be $1.50" said Soda. I gave him the money. I saw the little girl in the garage when I left. I swear, she looked exactly like me. I could've sworn it was Davanee, but there was no way. There were thousands of little kids in Tulsa.

When I arrived at the house, everything was dark. It had this musty smell like it hadn't been cleaned in weeks, and sure enough it hadn't. There was at least 15 inches of dust on everything. Half the food in the fridge had gone bad.

PONY'S POV

I couldn't wait for that day to be over. The past couple of weeks have been really stressful . I just wanted to go home and take a nap, but that was pretty hard to do with three kids. After school, I had to go pick up Davanee. She spent the day with Soda at work. I let all the kids stay home that day, but they had to stay with different people. Mercy and Scotty stayed with Dallas while Davanee stayed with Soda.

"Dad!" said Davanee once I entered the store.

"Hey, baby. You ready to go home?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'll go get my shoes" said Davanee. She ran out back and grabbed her shoes from the garage.

"Where's Soda?" I asked.

"He's in the garage with a customer" replied Davanee as she put her shoes on.

"Oh, then I guess we better leave him alone. Come on, I have to get your sisters" I said. We picked up Mercy and Scotty from Dallas' place.

"We got a customer at the DX today" said Davanee.

"Oh yeah. Who?" I asked.

"I dunno. I've never seen her before, but she looked a lot like me. It was kinda scary" said Davanee.

"That is kinda weird" I said, not really thinking much of it. Instead of going to the apartment, we had to go to the airport. Anya's parents were flying in from New York for a little while. They wanted to see the girls. It had been almost a year since they'd seen them. A lot's happened to Anya's parents in that year. They got a new apartment in the city. Anya's mom got promotion at the publishing company. And they got a new baby. It was a girl. Her name was Grace, but people called her Gracie. Gracie was just a baby the last time we saw her.

We waited for about an hour at the airport. Finally, after what seemed like hours, I saw Mom and Gracie step off the plane.

"Grandma!" yelled Davanee, running towards her. Scotty and Mercy followed close behind. I waited till the excitement died down a little.

"It's good to see you again, Pony" said Mom, giving me a hug.

"It's been a long time" I said, pulling away, "where's Dad?"

"Oh, he couldn't get away from work but he sends his love and says he'll come visit soon" said Mom, smiling for some reason.

"And this must be Gracie" I said picking her up, "she was just a little baby the last time we saw her."

"I know. She's gotten so big over the past year. Would you mind helping me with my bags?" asked Mom.

"Sure. Here, you take the baby and I'll get the bags" I said, handing Gracie back. I grabbed her carry on bags and we made our way to the luggage claim. It took us awhile to find the suitcase but Davanee spotted it as it came down the conveyer belt. I grabbed the suitcase and we were off to the apartment. Scotty and Mercy had to double buckle in the car because we didn't have enough room. I was happy to see Mom and Gracie again. We don't get to see them too often. We don't have the money to fly to New York and they're busy with work. I knew if my parent were still alive, they'd be over at the apartment every chance they got. When we got home, I helped Mom get settled in my room. She was going to use my room while I was going to sleep on the couch. She absolutely insisted that she sleep on the couch and I stay in my room, but I said no. Besides, I had already set up the crib in my room.

"Grandma! Grandma! Look at this" said Scotty, holding a picture she painted earlier that day.

"That's beautiful" said Mom.

"I made for you. You can take back to New York so Grandpa can see it" said Scotty.

"I'm sure Grandpa would love to see it. I'll put it on the refrigerator when I get home" said Mom, taking the picture from her. Scotty ran to go play with Mercy.

"This really is a good picture" said Mom once Scotty left.

"You should see her dance. She and Davanee practice almost every day after school" I said.

"Oh, I'd love to see them dance and I'd love to hear Davanee and Mercy play the piano" said Mom.

"Well, you know they've all got recitals this weekend if you want to go" I said.

"Really? Oh I would love to see the girls perform. When is it?" she asked.

"Saturday. Davanee and Scotty's is at 4 and Mercy's is at 6. They're at the same place" I said. Mom was about to comment on that but the phone rang. Soda called to ask me if I wanted to go to a party that night at Buck Merril's place. I wasn't sure. It had been a long time since I'd been to a party. Besides, I thought I had out grown the whole party scene, but I guess it was worth a shot.

"That was my brother" I said to Mom, "he wants me to go with him to this party tonight but.."

"Go" said Mom.

"What?"

"Go. I'll stay here and watch the kids."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Positive. Besides, when was the last time you got out of the house without the kids? Go have fun" said Mom.

"Thanks" I said. I grabbed my jacket off the hook, grabbed the keys off the counter, kissed the girls goodbye, and left. I met Soda at the house and we went to the party. We were greeted by lots of smoke, the smell of beer, and loud music. The last time I went to a party that didn't involve birthday cakes and presents was when I was 14 and I met that girl Carly. Darry was watching Davanee for the night. Things were a little different now. I wasn't 14 and I knew better then to let a girl talk you into stuff.

Soda left me to go participate in the poker game. I wasn't much of a poker player, but I did play when I wanted. I just walked around the party for a little while. Eventually, I wound up at the bar next to this girl. She had blonde hair that went down to her shoulders. It looked like she had been their for a while.

JAMIE'S POV

I got rather bored sitting around the house alone. Their was nothing to do. So, I thought I would have a little night out on the town. I drove around a little while before I found this place that was a little ways out of town. I had been their a couple of times when I was a kid, but I was under strict orders from my brother to never go to Buck Merril's place. I thought that since I was practically an adult now and my brother was nowhere to be found, I might as well stop in for a little visit.

The place was pack. Their was loud music, smoke, and the smell of beer. I loved it. I walked around the party for a little while, doing different things. I played a game of poker. I played pool with Buck and some of his friends. I even placed a couple of bets.

Eventually, I fond my way to the bar. I basically planted myself on one of the stools. I didn't drink though. I wasn't in the mood for drinking that night. Besides, I had to drive home. I sat there for what seemed like forever, when finally some guy came and sat next to me. I must admit, he was pretty cute.

PONY'S POV

This girl looked real familiar. I had seen her somewhere before, but I didn't know where.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Jamie. What's yours?"

I decided to lie about my name. "Michael."

"Nice name" said Jamie, "you live around here?"

"Uh, kinda. I live in the bad section of town" I said. Almost everybody knew where that was. "What about you?"

"No, I'm just visiting. I live in California. I used to live here but we moved away a long time ago" said Jamie. She was pretty. She kinda reminded me of the other Jamie, Davanee's mom. But I knew there was no way this could be the same person.

"I've seen you somewhere before" said Jamie, "you look so familiar, but I don't know I can't put my finger on it."

JAMIE'S POV

For the life of me, I could not figure out where I had seen him before. I thought maybe he was one of my friends when I was a kid, but surely he would've remembered me. Besides, I don't really remember having a friend named Michael. I do however remember Ponyboy (how could I forget him?), and this guy did look a lot like an older version of him. Then suddenly, it dawned on me. This guy was Ponyboy.

"Ponyboy" I said aloud, not realizing it.

"What?"

"You're Ponyboy."

"How do you know my name?"

"I can't believe it."

"Can't believe what?"

"You don't recognize me?" He gave me a blank stare and shook his head no.

"It's me. It's Jamie."

I think it took him a couple of minutes to realize what I was talking about. His eyes got really wide when he said "oh my god. What are you doing here?"

"I'm house sitting for my brother."

"It's been a long, long time" said Pony.

"8 years" I said. The last time I saw them was the at the park. Davanee was just a baby.

"How is she?" I asked.

"Pretty good" he said, smiling.

"What about school?"

"She makes straight As."

"She must be really smart" I said. I never got straight As in school. I tried, but it didn't work. I'm one of those students who makes all different kinds of grades.

"You'd be proud of her" said Pony.

"I miss her. You wouldn't happen to have a picture of her, would you?" I asked. He pulled a picture out of his wallet and pointed to the girl in the middle. It was then that I realized this was the same girl I saw at the DX earlier that day. I could feel the tears coming. She was beautiful.

"You can keep the picture if you want" said Pony, handing it to me, "I've got lots more at home."

"Thanks" I said, taking the picture and wiping my eyes, "I should probably go. It was good seeing you again."

"It was good seeing you too" he said, smiling almost. Maybe he wasn't mad at me any more.


	14. Haircuts

Davanee POV

Dad had to work late that night so Uncle Soda got to watch us. I always liked it when uncles Soda watched. Between you and I, he was a lot more fun than uncle Darry. Uncle Soda told us a lot of stories even though he says Dad was the one with all the stories.

I was helping him with the dishes one night after dinner when I noticed he had a big scar on his arm. It looked kinda funny because it was in a perfect circle.

"How'd you get that?" I asked, pointing to the scar.

"I was, uh, in an accident" he said.

"What kind of accident?"

"The kind that you don't need to know about."

"Is it from the war?" I asked. That made him stop washing the dishes. People think I don't remember when uncle soda when off to Vietnam, but I do. I read over his letters some times when Dad's not looking. At the time, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to ask about what happened.

"Yeah" he said, "it's from the war."

"Did ya get shot?" I asked. He nodded yes.

"What's it feel like?"

"Like something bit you" said Uncle Soda.

"How come you never talk about it?"

"Well, for some people war isn't something they like to talk about, but if you ask about it I'll tell you."

"Was it scary?

"Oh yeah, it was very scary but hopefully you won't have to go through something like that" he said, smiling.

Looking at uncle Soda's scar made me think of a bruise that I got once. It was on the same arm, in the same place. It was even in a perfect circle. Thinking about that scar made me think about my nightmares. Dad thinks I don't remember any of them but the truth is I remember almost all of them. They were almost all the same.

"The people that you were fighting, did they have short, black hair?" I asked.

"Yeah, but sometimes you couldn't tell 'cause they wore hats a lot" explained Uncle Soda.

"That boy that shot ya, he was about your age?" I asked.

"Yeah. How'd you know that?"

"You were held captive, weren't you?"

SODA'S POV

I had never told anybody that. When I was over there, a couple Vietnamese soldiers held some of the boys in my platoon captive. They would torture us. They would try to get answers out of us but we didn't know anything. We had no idea what was going on. One of the soldiers, a boy about my age was forced to shoot me. He was aiming for my heart but somehow he missed and got my arm. A couple of days after that, we were free. I went home almost a week after.

"How did you know about that?" I asked again.

"They held me captive too."

"What are you talking about?"

"In one of my nightmares. I dreamt that they caught me and did stuff to me. See." She rolled up her sleeve to show me a scar on her wrist. I had the same scar on the same wrist. This was layer upon layer of creepy. I dropped the plate I was holding. It fell on the floor and shattered. Pieces of glass went everywhere.

"They aren't gonna hurt me again, are they?" asked Davanee, tears filling her eyes.

"Of course they won't. I won't let them" I said, wrapping my arms around her. I told her to go play while I picked up the glass and fished the dishes. She wiped the tears away and went to go play with Dillon and Bo. I was babysitting 5 kids that night so you can imagine how crazy everything was. Normally the kids where pretty well behaved but I made the mistake by giving them coffee. I should've known better than to give Scotty Curtis and Bo Winston coffee. Those two girls where the most hyper kids I had ever seen.

They all fell asleep around 10:30ish. Pony, Maddie, and Dallas had to work late that night. Scotty and Mercy slept on the couch. Davanee and Bo were curled up in Darry's chair and Dillon was asleep on the floor. I covered them with blankets and went to work on some paper work stuff for the DX. I was almost done when I heard Davanee moving around in the chair. At first it was nothing, but then she started whispering. The whispering went to talking then to yelling. She started moving so much she practically pushed Bo out of the chair. She landed on the floor with a loud thump.

"What's wrong?" asked Bo.

"She's having a nightmare" I said, walking over to Davanee. I started shaking her slightly so she'd wake up. She did wake up but she pushed me away. After awhile she realized what had happened and she ran over to me in tears. I just sat there and rubbed her back.

"Is she ok?" asked Bo.

"Yeah, she'll be ok. She just had a bad dream. Go back to sleep."

Bo climbed back in the chair, covered herself with a blanket and closed her eyes. Davanee on the other hand didn't go back to sleep. She stayed up until Ponyboy came.

"What's she doing up?" asked Pony once he got back.

"She had a bad dream and she couldn't go back to sleep" I said.

"Oh. Is she ok?"

"Yeah, she's ok.

"Thanks for watching them" said Pony, picking up Scotty.

"No problem" I said, picking up Mercy. I carried Mercy out to the car and put her next to Scotty. Davanee followed and climbed in next to Mercy. I watched as they went off down the road. I kinda missed not having Pony around so much. But I suppose it was bound to happen one day. I walked inside and waited for Dallas and Maddie. Maddie didn't come till 12 and Dallas never came so Bo spent the night at our house. That's usually how it went.

I didn't have to work that day which was a relief because I hadn't had a day off in a long time. I did have to baby-sit though. Ponyboy said he had to work all day at the country club and he wouldn't get off until after dinner. Pony dropped the kids off early that morning. I was still half asleep when they came. The girls played outside while I made breakfast. They came running in when breakfast was ready. After breakfast, they played in the living room.

I was busy with the dishes when Mercy came running up to me.

"Uncle Soda let's play Beauty Parlor" said Mercy.

"I can't right now. I gotta finish up these dishes" I said.

"But I want you to play Beauty Parlor with me."

"But I don't wanna play beauty parlor" I said. I wasn't trying to be mean or anything but I really didn't want to.

"Yes you do" said Mercy, smiling from ear to ear.

"No I don't."

"Yes you do" said Mercy, making a sad face.

I sighed and gave. No man was strong enough to resist Mercy's sad face. I followed her into the living room and she made me sit on the floor. Davanee and Scotty were already sitting there with their toenails and fingernails painted. They were allowed to use nail polish just as long as they put a towel down first.

Mercy grabbed the scissors off the coffee table and started pretending to cut my hair. Everything was going ok until I heard Mercy say "oopps."

"What do you mean oopps?" I asked.

"Nothing" said Mercy. I stood up and looked at her. She was hiding something behind her back.

"What are you hiding behind your back?" I asked.

"Nothing" said Mercy smiling.

"Mercy Jay are you lying to me?" I asked.

"Yes" said Mercy, looking down at her feet. She took her hands out from behind her back and showed me what happened. There in her little hand was my hair. My hand immediately went to the back of my head. She cut a lot of hair, which meant there was a big spot on the back of my head.

"Are you mad?"

Of course I was mad but I wasn't going to tell her that. "Of course I'm not mad." Mercy started smiling when I said that.


	15. The Fair

Thanksgiving was upon us before we knew it. Thanksgiving was one of my favorite holidays. I'm not sure why, but I always liked it as a kid. When I was little, thanksgiving used to consist of aunts and uncles and cousins, but they all faded away when mom and dad died. We stopped hearing from them after the funeral. Some family, right? You would've thought that they'd do something to help us but no. It's ok though. We didn't need their help. We were doing ok.

"Girls come on. Let's get a move on" I said. It seemed like it was taking them forever to get ready.

"Daddy, I can't find my shoes" said Scotty.

"They're right next to your ballet stuff' I said.

"Dad, I can't find my shirt" said Davanee, walking out with jeans and her pajama shirt.

"Which one?"

"The pink one with the hearts" she said.

"It's in your dresser with all your other shirts."

"Daddy, where's my jacket?" asked Mercy. I was beginning to think that no one could find anything in this house.

"It's hanging over the chair by the door. Come on, let's go" I said, putting my jacket on. It had gotten really cold the night before, so cold that it was close to snowing but it didn't. Davanee and Scotty came running down the hall. I helped them all with their jackets and we made our way to the car only to find that the windshield and all the windows were covered in ice. I helped the kids get in the car and told them to lock it. I had to run back up stairs and get some hot water. Once the ice melted, we made our way over to the house. Nobody else, aside from Darry and Soda, was there yet.

"Uncle Darry!" yelled Scotty, wrapping her little arms around him.   
"Scotty" said Darry, picking her up.

"What? Do I not get a hug?" asked Soda, coming out of the kitchen. Davanee and Mercy ran to hug him.

After about an hour or so, everyone else showed up. The kids ran and played outside while some of us were watching the football game inside. I didn't really pay much attention to the game. I wasn't really much of a football person. Just then all the kids came running through the front door. They all ran to the guest room where the toys were, Davanee leading the way with Mercy bringing up the rear saying "wait for me." Mercy wasn't very good at keeping up with Scotty and Davanee, but Davanee would always wait for her.

"No running in the house" I warned but I don't think any of them heard me.

That thanksgiving was pretty much like all the others. We sat down around the kitchen table while the kids sat in the living room watching _Singin' in the Rain_. That was one of Davanee's favorite movies. The kids fell asleep in the middle of the movie while everyone else cleaned up. It took us a little while because there was a lot to do. We ended up spending the night there. I was too tired to drive home and the kids were already asleep.

I was about half way asleep when I heard the door crack. I opened my eyes to see Mercy standing in the doorway, blanket in hand.

"Mercy, what's wrong?" I asked.

"I'm scared" she said, climbing on the bed. I sat up so I could see her better.

"Why are you scared?"

"They're gonna get me again" she said. Now where have I heard this before?

"Who's going to get you?"

'The people that took us away" she said. It took me a minute to register what she was talking about. I guessing she was talking about the guys that kidnapped her. Upon arriving at the police station the night I picked my kids up, I was informed that the kidnapper and his friends would be locked up for a very long time. They said the sentence could range anywhere from 20 years to 50 to a lifetime. My girls weren't the only ones who were kidnapped. There were several others before them.

"They're not gonna get you" I said, holding her "those guys are going to jail for a very, very long time. You have nothing to be scared of."

"Can I sleep in here with you?" she asked.

"Of course" I said.

She fell asleep under my arm. That was the best nights sleep I had had in a long, long time. I awoke the next morning to find Mercy gone. My guess was she was already up and playing with Scotty.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and wandered down the hall to the kitchen. To my surprise, Soda was making breakfast.

"Morning" he said.

"Morning" I said in that usual half awake, half asleep voice, "where's Darry?"

"Still asleep. You hungry?"

"No, not really. You working today?"

"Nope. I think the gang might be stopping by a little later to play some football. Care to join?" he asked.

"Count me in" I said. We hardly ever got to play football anymore. Everyone was so wrapped up with work and kids and what not, we didn't have time. I guess it was just a sign that we were growing up.

"I think they're coming over around 1 ish" said Soda.

"I think we're gonna head over to the park before that" I said, walking into the living room. I found Davanee, Scotty, and Mercy sitting on the couch watching Mickey Mouse.

"Daddy come watch" said Mercy, who was sitting in the middle. They all scooted over to make room. Mercy sat in my lap. She wasn't that big so she could still do that. We watched Mickey until it was over, at which time _Scooby-Doo _came on. I wasn't a big Scooby fan, but the girls were. There was something about mystery solving teenagers and a dog that appealed to them. We waited until the Scooby hour was over to go to the park. I let the kids play on the play ground while I played football. We were almost done when Scotty asked me if she could play.

"You know how to play?" I asked. She shook her head no.

"Ok" I said, getting down on her level, "what you do is when I give you the ball, you take it and run all they way down to other end of the field but you can't let the other team get it, ok?"

"Ok" she said. So when I gave her the ball, she ran as fast as she could down to the other end. Of course, they let her score.

"Daddy look I scored!" yelled Scotty.

"Good job" I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"I don't wanna play no more" she said, "I'm gonna go play with Mercy." Scotty ran off toward the swings where Mercy was waiting for her.

"Be careful!" I yelled after her. She just smiled at me like she understood.

We played for a little while longer. Our team won. I can't remember what the score was but I do remember it being pretty close. The gang walked back to the house but Two-Bit stayed behind and waited for me. I had to help the kids get there shoes back on.

"Pony can I …………um……….can I talked to you about something?" he asked.

"Um, girls why don't you go try and catch up with Uncle Soda? Tell them we'll be there in a minute" I said. The girls took off down the sidewalk and caught up with everyone else.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Um……..you remember my girlfriend Cathy, right?" he asked. I had met her once or twice before but I wasn't really fond of her. There was just something about her that I didn't like. I couldn't put my finger on it. Her and Two-Bit had been dating off and on for the past couple of years.

"Yeah" I said, wondering where this conversation was going. Two-Bit looked sad, which is unusual for him because he's almost always happy.

"I ………..um" began Two-Bit. I had never seen him this nervous before. Two-Bit was never, ever nervous. If there was ever a nervous, shy one in the bunch, it was me.

"She's pregnant and it's mine and I don't know what to do" he said after awhile. I figured that's where this conversation was heading. People often came to me when they had problems like this. I tried to help them, but there's only so much I can say.

"She's due sometime next summer, early fall maybe. She just told me yesterday. I'm scared" he said. Never have I heard Two-Bit say I'm scared. It shocked me to hear those words coming from him but then again, he was in a pretty scary situation.

"What are you guys gonna do about it?" I asked.

"She either wants to keep it or put it up for adoption. She doesn't believe in abortion" said Two-Bit.

"It's hard work" I said, obviously speaking from a lot of experience.

"What's it like?"

"It's hard to describe. It's one of those things where you have to actually experience it in order to know what it feels like" I said.

"Oh" was all he said.

"Tell ya what" I said, "how about you spend a couple of hours with them one day? That way maybe you'll at least get a taste of what its like."

"How about today?" he asked.

"Sure" I said. I had a lot of things I had to get done and for someone to take the kids off my hands for a little while was a tremendous help.

"Would it be ok if I took them to the fair?" asked Two-Bit.

I thought about it for a moment. They've only been to the fair about once or twice. Davanee had been wanting to go but we were always too busy.

"Sure" I said, "but no drinking or smoking. And no girls."

Two-Bit sighed and said "fine." Hey, that was just part of the rules of being a parent. In my opinion, I guess it was ok to smoke and drink just as long as you didn't do it around your kids. As far as girls went, it depended on who it was. I didn't want any sluts or whores around my kids.

TWO-BITS POV

I was scared. Not about taking the kids to the fair but about having one of my own pretty soon. I couldn't handle a kid. I could barely handle Pony's kids when I babysat. I wasn't ready for this. I don't think I was cut out to be a parent. But Kara, my little sister, begs to differ. I basically took care of Kara. My mom was being working and our dad left us. Eventually my mom started dating again but she picked some real losers. Kara moved in with me when she was 13. Mom's boyfriend at the time was drug addict and Kara couldn't take it. She stayed with me until she went off to school. I envied her. She worked all through out high school just so she could save up enough money to go to college. She was one of the very few people I know of who got out. I always thought that Pony was the one who was going to leave, but that's obviously not the case.

We arrived at the house to find Scotty, Davanee, and Mercy playing outside with the sidewalk chalk.

"Hey girls, guess what" said Pony. All of them stopped what they were doing and looked up at him.

"Uncle Two-Bit is going to take you to the fair" he said. That statement was followed by a chorus of shrieks and cheers. I loaded them into the car while Pony went home. He said he had some papers to grade and he'd like to take advantage of the opportunity. The girls were so excited, they were ready to burst out of their seats. We were barely into the fair when the kids started hounding me for tickets.

"Hush" I said, "I can't understand anything when you're all talking at the same time.

The girls calmed down and stared at me, waiting for me to say something.

"Davanee, what ride would you like to go on first?" I asked. I figured since Davanee was the oldest, she could choose first. She looked around for a minute, studying each ride carefully. There was of course the traditional Ferris Wheel with the bright lights and brightly colored cars. Some of the rides spun you around really fast, making you dizzy just watching them. And of course, there were those ride that were for the daredevils and thrill seekers.

"Lets go on the Tilt-A-Whirl" said Davanee. I was afraid she'd say that. I didn't like the Tilt-A-Whirl. One bad experience scared me for life. I was 5 when my mom and dad took my sister and I to the fair. Before we went on the ride, I had lots of candy and hotdogs. Apparently, Tilt-A-Whirls, candy, and hot dogs don't mix. I threw up all over my dad's lap when we were on the ride. He was furious but he didn't punish me. We just went home.

The girls waited in line patiently as we made our way through the never ending line. Pretty soon it was our turn. Once the maintenance man opened the gate, the kids ran to a cart in the back.

I was thankful when the ride stopped.

"Are you ok, Uncle Two-Bit?" asked Davanee.

"Yeah, why?"

"You look a little green" she said.

"Oh it's ok. I'm ok" I said.

Next it was Scotty's turn to pick a ride. She picked a much calmer, less adventures ride. The swings. Even I liked that ride. All you did was sit there, and that was ok with me.

We spent a couple of hours at the fair, drifting from one attraction to the next. Pretty soon they started to get hungry. I got them stuff like hotdogs and popcorn and what not. After that, they wanted to go back on the Tilt-A-Whirl one more time before we left. Apparently that hotdog didn't settle with Mercy because she threw up all over my shoes.


	16. A fish called Romeo

PONY'S POV

I couldn't help but laugh when I heard about what happened at the fair. Fortunately, Two-Bit didn't seem that upset about it. The shoes were replaceable.

"It's not as easy as it looks" I said, "thanks for watching them."

"Anytime" said Two-Bit. After Two-Bit left, I put the kids to bed.

"Daddy read us a story" said Scotty as I was tucking her in.

"No, not tonight baby" I said.

"Why not?" asked Mercy.

"I promise I'll read you a story tomorrow night but right now you've got to go to sleep. You must be tired from going to the fair" I said.

"Yeah" said Scotty, yawning.

I gave them both a kiss goodnight and turned out the lights. Davanee was waiting patiently for me to tuck her in. She looked like she was about to fall asleep any minute.

"So how was the fair?" I asked.

"It was fun. We went on the Ferris Wheel. They stopped our cart up at the very top and we could see _everything_. It was so cool" she said.

"I bet."

"I wish we could go back" she said.

"Maybe next year but right now it's time for you to go to bed" I said. I gave her a kiss goodnight, turned off the lights, and cracked the door. I was happy to hear that they had fun at the fair. It had been a long time since we had done anything fun. I went to bed after a little while. There's was nothing else to do. I'm 22 and I'm going to bed at 10 on a Friday night. I guess that's what you get for having kids at such a young age.

The next day was relatively normal. The girls dance and piano lessons were canceled because of Thanksgiving. They needed a weekend off. So, we went over to the DX instead. There was nothing better to do. The kids got to help Soda on one of the many cars in the garage that day while I watched. I really didn't know that much about cars. Sure, I knew how to change a tire and put gas in it (an idiot could do that) but that's about as far as my car knowledge goes.

"So did you hear about this little family reunion thing in Bixby?" asked Soda.

"Family reunion?"

"Yeah. It's Dad's side of the family" he said. Oh Boy. My dad's family was about as Christian as they come. They weren't really of any denomination, but they were hard core Christians. They believe that it's a sin to get a divorce, wrong to miss church every Sunday, absolutely unheard of to have sex before marriage and to get married at a young age. I could only imagine what they were going to think of me. Despite all of that, we decided to go. I thought it might be nice for the kids to meet some of their family. The reunion was all the way out at some farm in Bixby. It turns out that our Aunt Ruthie and Uncle Mike own a farm out there. On the way there, I thought about what I was going to say when people asked me about the kids. I could always lie and say they're my sisters or they're not mine, but I couldn't do that. In the end, I figured that the truth was probably the best thing.

We pulled up at the farm with Soda and Darry following close behind. A lot of people were already there. I could see Aunt Ruthie and Uncle Mike coming to greet us. I was glad it was Aunt Ruthie and not someone else. She already knew about the kids and from what I could tell, she didn't disapprove.

"We're so glad you could make it" she said, giving me a hug and a kiss. She then proceeded to hug and kiss Davanee, Scotty, and Mercy. Uncle Mike was Aunt Ruthie's husband. From what I remember he was pretty nice but he didn't say much.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you" said Uncle Mike, shaking my hand.

"It's been a really long time" I said.

"And who might these young ladies be?"

"These are my daughters Davanee, Scotty, and Mercy. Girls, say hi to your Uncle Mike."

They all said hi at the same time.

"They're sweet" said Uncle Mike.

"Thanks" I said.

"Well come on and see the rest of the family. They're just dying to see ya" said Uncle Mike, leading us to the little picnic bar-b-q thing they had set up. Some of them really did look like they were dying. As a matter of fact, I think one of them was. My Uncle Eddy was diagnosed with brain cancer a couple of years ago. I kinda felt bad for him, I mean, he must've asked what my name was about 30 times. Then of course, there was my aunt Bonnie. She wasn't really a religious women, but the family tolerated her anyways. I remember getting a couple of good swats on the backside from her when I was little.

"Hey Aunt Bonnie" I said, trying to be as polite as I could.

"Don't you say hey to me" said aunt Bonnie, almost hissing, "you say good afternoon Aunt Bonnie."

"How are you doing this fine afternoon?" I asked, trying to sound all gentlemen like.

"I'm 75 years old, how do you think I'm feeling? I've got arthritis in both my wrist, my back is killing me, and my husbands got brain cancer" she said. In case you didn't know, Uncle Eddy is Aunt Bonnie's husband. They've been married for God knows how long. Honestly, I don't know how Uncle Eddy was able to put up with her for so long.

"How are your kids doing?" I asked, sitting down at the picnic table across from her. The girls had gone off to play with the other kids near the barn.

"My eldest, Marie, is in law school. She just got married. I don't approve of it. My son, Eddy jr., is in the military. I don't approve of that either. Fighting is not for fragile boys like him. And my youngest, June, she's one apple that fell pretty far from the tree. She's in jail for grand theft" said Aunt Bonnie. She didn't need to say she didn't approve of that. No parent in there right mind would.

"What about you?" she asked. I was a bit surprised that she asked. From what I heard, she doesn't really care about the rest of the family.

I took a deep breathe and said "well, I have 3 girls of my own now. There's Davanee, who's 8 and Scotty and Mercy who are 6."

"And how old are you now?"

"22" I said.

"So you had your first child when you were just 14?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am."

"And I thought your parents raised you better than that. What you should've done is called social services and given that baby to a family who can provide for her" said Aunt Bonnie. That statement really made me mad. A) I think my parents did a pretty good job at raising me. This all happened after they died. B) I can provide for my kids just fine.

"Oh Bonnie leave him alone" said Aunt Ruthie, coming to my rescue. Aunt Bonnie was Aunt Ruthie's sister. I think Aunt Bonnie was the middle child. I got up and decided to help put some of the food on the table.

"You don't let her get to ya" said Aunt Ruthie, "she's just an old pessimistic, stick in the mud. I'll let ya in on a little secrete. She was just 16 when she got pregnant. Of course, stuff like that was completely unheard of back then so Mama and Daddy made her get an abortion."

"Really?"

"Yep. Never did find out who the father was. Now, you didn't hear any of this from me. Now you go over and join the men. Leave this stuff to the ladies" said Aunt Ruthie.

"Ponyboy!" called my cousin Charlie, who was surrounded by some of my uncles and cousins. He started walking towards me with an open beer in one hand and an unopened one in the other. Charlie and I haven't seen each other in years. We used to be good friends when we were little but once high school started, we drifted apart. He got wrapped up in the football team and going to homecoming and prom and whatnot. I on the other hand was changing diapers.

"Long time no see" he said, putting his arm around me and handing me a beer. God, he smelled so bad.

"How long has it been? 5? 6 years?" he asked.

"Probably. So what have you been up to all these years?" I asked, not really interested but being polite.

"Well, I graduated from high school when I was about 18 or so. After that I went to a community college and started working with my dad in the car repair business. I met this girl named Amy and we're engaged. Gonna get married in a couple of months. We'd be honored to have ya at the weddin'" he said.

"I'd love to come" I said, smiling.

"So what about you? What've you been up to all this time?" he asked.

"Well, I got 3 kids of my own now. I started taking night school when the eldest was born and I graduated a couple of years after that. I went to college and now I'm an English teacher" I said.

"Damn, 3 kids?" he asked, "where are they?"

"They're over playing by the barn" I said, looking over to make sure they where still there. I could see Mercy running towards me at full speed. I picked her up right as she reached me.

"Who is this pretty little lady?" asked Charlie.

"This is Mercy. She's 6. Mercy this is your cousin Charlie" I said.

Mercy waved and said "hi."

"Daddy, Uncle Mike wants to know if it's ok with you if we ride the horses" she said.

"Yeah it's fine by me" I said.

"Can you come watch us?" she asked.

"Yeah" I said. I set the unopened beer bottle down on one of the picnic tables and followed Mercy over to the stables. They did have some nice horses. I wasn't really that much of a horse expert so I couldn't tell you what kind of horses they were. Soda probably could, but I couldn't

I stood there and watched them ride around the paddock for a little while. They would occasionally wave and of course I would wave back. I was so distracted by watching them ride, I didn't even notice that Soda was standing next to me.

"Having fun?" he asked.

"Yeah kinda. You?"

"I'm ready for it to be over" he said.

"Uh huh. And who's idea was it to come here?"

"I don't know" said Soda..

We stayed until it started to get dark. We had a long drive ahead of us.

We said our goodbyes to everyone and I loaded the girls into the car. Scotty and Mercy were half asleep while Davanee was wide awake. One of my cousins thought it would be a good idea to give her candy before we went home. I'd like to thank whoever did that because she was bouncing off the walls the whole night.

"Now if you need anything don't hesitate to call. Your uncle and I are just a phone call away" said Aunt Ruthie before I got in the car.

I said thanks and gave her a hug goodbye. We were out of there in no time. Surprisingly, this little reunion thing wasn't all that bad but I'll probably never do it again. All everybody could talk about was the fact that I had a kid when I was 14. I wanted to tell them to get over it, but I didn't.

We were home in a couple of hours. By that time the kids were already asleep. So, I had to wake them up to get them upstairs. We went back to school the next week and for a while, things were pretty normal. That following Saturday, I decided to go out and do a little early Christmas shopping. Normally I don't like to shop but in this case I had to. I had to take the kids with me. Shopping with 3 kids may sound easy but it's not, especially when they get bored easily.

"Dad, can we go to the pet store?" asked Davanee.

"We'll go when we're done here, ok?"

"Ok" said Davanee. The girls loved going to the pet store whenever we went to the mall. They loved looking at all the puppies.

"Daddy can we get a puppy?" asked Scotty when we were in the pet store.

"No. We're not allowed to have a puppy at the apartment" I said. I kinda felt bad about that. They had been asking me for a puppy for a long, long time. Darry said that if we wanted we could keep the puppy at the house, but I said no. I didn't want it to be his responsibility.

"What about a fish?" asked Mercy, looking at all the colorful fish. I suppose there was nothing wrong with that. Fish aren't that hard to take care of, are they? I mean all you have to do is feed them and clean the tank and stuff, right?

"Alright. You can get a fish" I said.

"How 'bout this one" said Davanee, pointing to a little clown fish.

"That ones good" I said. I found someone who worked at the pet store and got them to take the fish out for us. The girl placed in a plastic bag filled with water. Of course, we had to buy the food and all the stuff that went with the fish tank. In the end, the fish wasn't as cheap as I thought. I let Mercy hold the bag on the way home, but told her to be careful. She couldn't shake it or anything like that.

"So what's the fish's name?" I asked, to no one in particular.

"I like Romeo" said Davanee.

"Yeah me too" said Scotty.

"I like it" said Mercy.

"Romeo it is then" I said.

"Can Romeo go in our room?" asked Scotty.

"No, let's put him out in the living room. That way everyone can see him" I said.

"Ok" said Scotty. I set up the fish tank when we got home.


	17. the christmas ball

PONY'S POV

I really didn't like Christmas shopping, but it's just one of those things you have to do. I had to work that night so my goal was to get home a little early. Scotty and Mercy were spending the day and night with a friend from school so it was just Davanee and I. It was just like old times before Scotty and Mercy were born. Before they were born, Davanee and I would spend the whole day together just about every day.

"Do you have to work tonight?"

"Yes ma'am and you're coming to work with me" I said. Everybody had to work that night so I had no choice. She had to come.

"But that's boring" she said.

"No it's not. They're having this big Christmas ball tonight and you get to go" I said.

"I do?"

"Yeah. It'll be lots of fun. There'll be lots of other kids there for you to play with. And you get to get all dressed up. Which reminds me, we have to find you a dress today" I said. Davanee didn't have any nice dresses. She didn't need them. The only nice dress she had was the flower girl dress she wore for the wedding, which was way too small for her. Besides, I packed that dress up and put it away.

After we were done battling the Christmas shoppers, we went to this store where they had nothing but formal wear for kids. It was a little pricey, but Davanee and I somehow managed to find a dress that was pretty and cheap at the same time. The dress was red on top with white pearls around the waist. The bottom was white with netting underneath to make the dress stick out. The dress came with a red hair ribbon. I got some white stockings and black shoes to go with. In the end, we ended up spending less than what I expected.

We took everything home and I hid the presents and stuff while Davanee played. When I was done putting all the stuff away, I worked on my lesson plans for the next couple of weeks. I really didn't want to, but I had to. I wish I could have a Christmas break like everybody else, but I guess that's just all part of being an adult. Finally, it was time to start getting ready. I helped Davanee get dressed first. At first she complained about the dress being itchy but after awhile she got used to it. I also helped her with her hair. Somehow I managed to curl it without somebody getting burned. Davanee can do her own hair, but she's slow and we were gonna be late if we didn't pick up the pace. Once she was ready, she waited for me in the living room. All I had to do was put on my uniform and do my hair. My uniform consisted of a white, button down shirt, black pants, black shoes, and since it was Christmas, a stupid looking maroon vest. For my hair, all I did was comb it over to the side a little. It was starting to get a little long and I had to get it cut soon, but with 3 busy kids it's hard to find the time.

"Dad, we're gonna be late" said Davanee from the living room.

"I'm ready" I said, grabbing my jacket and walking out to the living room. I helped Davanee put her jacket on and we were ready to go. It didn't take us that long to get the club. We managed to beat the rush hour traffic. I got Davanee settled in the ballroom and went back to the kitchen.

"Well you're here early" said Sam, who was busy putting some hors d'oeuvres on a tray.

"Aren't I always here early?" I asked.

"Yeah but I thought you couldn't find anyone to watch Davanee tonight" she said.

"Which is why she'll be with the other kids in the ball room tonight" I said.

"Oh. First Ball. I bet that's pretty exciting" she said.

"She seemed excited about it, but I think that was mostly because she got a new dress" I said.

"Doesn't she have a dress?" asked Sam.

"She does but they're not formal" I said, grabbing some silverware and some green, red, and white napkins. Sam helped me set the tables. We had about 20- 30 tables. We were expecting a lot of people that night. The Christmas Ball was the biggest thing at the club. Just about all the club members came.

When I walked back out the ball room to put the glasses on the tables, Davanee smiled and waved at me. I blew her a kiss and smiled. Davanee waited a bit impatiently for the other kids. Within an hour or so, the place was packed. I was so busy, I almost forgot Davanee was there. Occasionally, when there was a brief lull in the ball, I would stand back and watched Davanee. She would talk to the other kids and laugh with them, almost as if she were apart of that class. I wish things could stay that way as you get older. When you're a kid, there is no difference. To you, they're all just kids. But as you get older, you begin to realize that there is something that divides us.

The ball was almost over when the singer announced there was going to be a special father/daughter dance.

"Hey Sam, can you cover for me for a little while?" I asked.

"Father daughter dance?" asked Sam, smiling.

"Yeah."

"Sure, I'll cover for you."

The band started playing _My Girl_ by the temptations. Davanee was the only girl left at the kids table. Once she saw me step out of the kitchen, she came running up to me.

"Care to dance?" I asked.

"Yeah" said Davanee. I picked her up and we danced out on the dance floor. For an 8 year old, she wasn't very big so I could still pick her up if she wanted me to. That night was just about perfect. I would've loved to of had Scotty and Mercy there, but I loved dancing with Davanee. After all, she was the one who made me a dad. People often ask me if I ever regret what I did, and I say no because of moments like this. People have said I'm crazy for trying to raise 3 daughters on my own, but it's my favorite job. I never imagined that I would have 3 kids by the time I graduated high school. It's not something you dream about, but I managed to come out ok. Most kids who have kids end up dropping out before they graduate because it's too hard. I didn't. I graduated in the top 10 of my class with a baby on each hip and a toddler at my side. If I can do it, anybody can.

After the dance it was time for Davanee and I to head home. She was half asleep when I put her in the car. I said goodbye to Sam and we started the drive home. I decided that I didn't want to go home just yet, so I ended up driving around our neighborhood for a little while. Davanee fell asleep as soon as we pulled out of the club parking lot, so it was ok. There were a lot of kids walking around, most of which were about 13-16. I recon most of the kids were heading to Jay's or The Dingo. I remember when I was about 13 or 14, I went to the Dingo one time and a girl got shot. She couldn't have been older than 16. There was a huge blood stain in on the cement in the parking lot that never really washed away. Fortunately, the girl lived. I don't know where she is now, but she lived.

As I was driving, my mind went back to the first time I got jumped. I was walking home from the movies when I saw the car pull up along side me. The house wasn't that far, so I tried running but it didn't do any good. The Socs had me down within minuets. I seriously thought I was going to die but then the gang came to my rescue. I have been jumped several times since, one of which Davanee had to watch. I tried my best to avoid being jumped whenever my kids were with me, but it didn't work that one time.

I was starting to get tired, so I finally drove home. Davanee was sound asleep in the backseat so I had to carry her upstairs. The apartment was pretty quiet without Scotty and Mercy. I got Davanee out of her dress and into her pajamas. I laid her down in her bed and gave her a kiss goodnight. I went to bed soon after. I was exhausted.

I was awoken in the middle of the night by Davanee's screaming. I immediately ran to her room to see what was wrong. She was having another nightmare. My first instinct was to go in and comfort her but then I remembered something the doctor had said. She said that if she was just screaming, I was supposed to stand in the doorway and watch, but if she started hurting herself, I was to intervene. Davanee started hurting herself so I had to go in there. Davanee woke up and for a while, she didn't know who I was. She got scared, thinking that I was a stranger, and told me to go away.

"Baby it's me, it's Dad" I said.

"Daddy!" she cried, jumping into my arms and crying, "it was terrible."

I calmed her down and eventually, she fell back asleep. I put her back to bed and went back to bed myself. I didn't wake up again until the next morning, when Davanee came in announcing that it was morning and it was time for me to get up.

I rolled out of bed and made Davanee breakfast. She could make breakfast for herself but she liked it better when I did it,

"What are we doing today?" asked Davanee when she was waiting for her breakfast.

"We have to go pick up Scotty and Mercy in a couple of hours and then maybe we'll go get our Christmas tree" I said. Davanee loved picking out the Christmas tree. She loved Christmas in general. I think she gets that from me. Christmas is my favorite time of the year too.

After breakfast, we picked up Scotty and Mercy. Then we made our way to the Christmas tree lot downtown. We went to the same one every year. It was run by a little old couple who liked to give the kids candy-cane shaped sugar cookies. The old man's name was Henry. He had been in the Christmas tree business for years. He and his wife, Kate, own a Christmas tree farm outside of Tulsa. They've been running that farm for years, and Henry plans to leave it to his son when he dies.

Henry and Kate got up to greet us when we walked into the Christmas tree lot. There were a lot of trees, most of which were really big. We couldn't get a really big tree. Henry shook my hand and showed me where some of the best and cheapest trees where. We found one that wasn't too big, but wasn't too small. It would fit just perfectly in our living room.

"We'll take it" I said, looking at it one last time.

"Great" said Henry, "I was afraid we wouldn't be able to sell that one." I helped him carry it to the front of the lot. I paid for it and helped Henry get it on the roof of the car. The tree might've looked a little small, but it was really heavy. The girls climbed in the car after we loaded the tree, sugar cookies in hand.

JAMIE'S POV

I really didn't like Christmas. It was just one of those holidays I was forced to celebrate. Don't get me wrong, I liked getting the presents. Who doesn't? I just wasn't too keen on the whole family get together thing. My parents were crazy about getting the family together, and they tried to every chance they got. I guess I was one apple that fell way off the tree.

"Jamie, will you hand me that ornament?" asked mother, pointing to a red, glass ball. My mother needed help decorating the tree that year because my father was out of town on a business trip. He wouldn't be back till the day before Christmas and he wanted us to go ahead and decorated the tree without him.

"Jamie, why don't you hang some ornaments?" asked Mom.

"No thanks. I'm not a big fan of decorating the tree" I said.

"I don't see why not" said Mom, "decorating the tree is one of the best things about Christmas."

"Well, I'm not too keen on Christmas either" I said.

"Is there anything you like?" asked Mother.

"I like it when you're not bothering me with stupid questions" I snapped.

"Oh don't be such a fun sucker. You know, ever since you've come home you've been in such a bad mood. Lighten up a little. Christmas is one of the happiest seasons" she said.

"And what about the people who have no one to spend Christmas with? You think they're happy?" I asked.

"You know you just better can the attitude, missy. 'Cause if you don't, you'll be a very sad girl on Christmas morning" she said, hanging another ball.

"You don't need to talk to me like I'm 5, mom. I get it" I said, trying to be a little less snappy and a little more cheerful.

"Oh Jamie could you do me a favor?" asked Mom, "could you run out the mall and do a little Christmas shopping for me?"

"What do you need?" I asked.

"Oh, just a couple of things for you brother and sister. The list is sitting on the kitchen counter" she said, pointing in the direction of the kitchen. I found the cream colored paper sitting on the end of the counter. It was more than just a list. This thing could make up an entire book and then some.

"Mom" I began, "there's no way I'm gonna be able to get all this today."

"Oh I know. Just get what you can and I'll get the rest, but make sure to mark off what you get" she said.

"Alright. I'll be back in a little while" I said, grabbing the keys off the counter.

"Ok. Love you!" called mom.

"Love you too!" I called back. I really didn't like going to the mall this time of the year. There were way too many shoppers for my taste. I hardly ever go to the mall, but when I do I make sure it's a week day or something. Week days tend to be less busy then weekends. I found a spot right up front and walked straight through Macy's. My mother hated Macy's so I figured whatever was on that list, it wouldn't come from Macy's. I walked around the mall a little, poking in and out of shops until I found myself in the center of the mall. Kids were lined up to see Santa. I sat back and watched for a moment. Some kids screamed when it was they're turn. Some kids didn't say anything and some just talked and talked and talked. There was one particular girl that stood out. She couldn't have been more than 10 or so. She dirty blonde hair that was done in curls. She had this red and white dress with a matching purse, white stockings, and black shoes. She looked just like Davanee, but I knew it wasn't hurt. I couldn't help but wonder what she was doing at that very moment.


	18. Merry Christmas

PONY'S POV

That night was a busy night for us. The girls had their Christmas pageant at the big Methodist church downtown. We weren't members of the church, but the girls heard about it through a friend at school and they wanted to get involved. Davanee was an angel. She had a couple of lines and a solo. Mercy was an angel too, but she sang in the chorus. I have a feeling she wasn't too crazy about getting on stage and talking in front of a lot of people. Scotty was a shepherd. She had one line and I think she got to sing a little too.

We arrived at the church a little early. There were a couple of other kids their but that was it really.

"Is Uncle Soda coming?" asked Davanee as I was helping her with her wings and halo.

"Yep. Uncle Darry's coming too" I said, straightening the wings so they weren't crooked.

"Who else?"

"I dunno" I said. I really didn't know if anyone else was coming. I don't think they were but one never knows. I finished up fixing Davanee's wings and took my seat in the audience. The show was about to start. Darry and Soda came in just seconds before the show started. They said they ran into traffic on the way.

The show was pretty cute. The kids came down the isle in pairs, dressed as animals. The angels were standing on the stage surrounding the manger. Finally, the shepherds starting making there way down the isle. Scotty smiled and waved when she saw me. I smiled and waved back.

"We are the shepherds who were tending the flock in the fields" said one shepherd.

"When we saw angels appear" said Scotty, smiling about her one and only line. Davanee appeared on stage and the spotlight was on her. The rest of the stage was dark.

"Do not be afraid" said Davanee, "for I bring you great tidings of great joy that will be for all people. Today, in the town of David, a Savior is born to you: he is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign unto you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths, lying in a manger." She smiled, proud that she had gotten her lines right. We rehearsed them at least 100 times at home. Then, she start singing _Hark the Herald Angels Sing_. I had never heard her sing before. She was wonderful. During the chorus, the choir, farm animals, shepherds, and wise men joined in. They then sang _O Come All Ye Faithful_. I was amazed by the fact that little kids could learn those songs. They may be easy for you and I, but for little kids it's not so easy.

After the show, the kids came running form backstage to me.

"You guys were great" I said, giving them hugs.

We gathered up our things and made our long journey home. It was really cold outside and it looked like it was going to rain. When we got home, the girls went right to sleep. I on the other hand decided to get a jump start on wrapping presents. Christmas eve wasn't until a couple of nights but I was usually up till one in the morning wrapping presents and this year I was going to try to avoid that. I got most of them wrapped that night but there were some that I saved until Christmas eve. I went to bed pretty late that night.

I was awoken the next morning by Mercy tucking on my arm.

"Daddy, wake up" she said, loud enough so I would open my eyes.

"What is it baby?" I asked, half asleep.

"It's snowing! Come on!" She tugged on my arm even harder.

"Alright, alright. I'm up" I said, placing my feet on the floor. I gave Mercy a piggy back ride to the kitchen. The kids were already dressed to go outside.

"You guys gotta have some breakfast first" I said, setting Mercy down at the kitchen table. They sighed but they ate there breakfast. Then I made them wait for me. I wouldn't let them go outside by themselves.

"Come on Dad the snows gonna melt" said Davanee.

"Alright, I'm ready" I said, walking out of my room. The girls ran out the door and down the stairs. Instead of going to the little yard they had in the back of the building, we went to the park. Everything was covered in snow. So, instead of playing on the playground, we made a snowman. It had three rocks for buttons, two red buttons for eyes, a carrot nose, a pink hat, and two twigs for arms. It was a very traditional snowman.

When we were done with the snowman, the kids made snow angels. I never really liked making snow angels when I was a kid. I always thought that was more of a girl thing. Besides, no matter how hard you tried, the angel was never perfect. There was always that handprint when you stood up.

After hours of playing in the snow, we went home. It was getting really cold out and the kids were going to get sick if they stayed out any longer. They protested at first, but after awhile they gave in. The kids played while I got ready for work. I really didn't want to go. There was nothing going on that night so I knew it was going to be boring, but we needed the money. Christmas was right around the corner.

"Come on, girls, let's go" I said, trying to get them out the door. They were only 6 and 8 and already it took them forever to get ready. I guess I had to get used to it.

I dropped them off with Darry and Soda on my way to work. I wasn't allowed to bring them to work unless I had no other options.

The club was practically disserted when I got there. Like I said before, I knew it was going to be a slow night. Instead of serving people in the ball room, I helped trained the new comers. Most of them were just high school kids. I found it kinda funny that I was just a couple years older than them and yet I was teaching them. I taught them how to fold napkins, were to put the silverware, stuff like that. It was just the basic stuff. After that, we were assigned to a kid. What they would do is follow us around for a couple of weeks and learn from us. I got a girl . Her name was Kelly. She was a sophomore. She had long blonde hair that she liked to twirl with her finger. She had this bored expression like this is the last place she wanted to be. Right off the bat I could tell how this was going to be.

After a long night, I picked up the kids and went home. They were already asleep when I picked them up. I helped them changed into there pajamas and put them to bed. That night was a pretty quiet night. No bad dreams, everyone stayed in there bed.

A couple of days passed and before we knew it, it was Christmas. On Christmas eve, we went over to the house. Everyone was there. The house seemed to be the gathering place on holidays and weekends. We had the normal Christmas eve dinner which consisted of turkey, vegetables, mashed potatoes, and a couple of other things. We didn't open presents. We were going to be over there the next day so there was no point. Besides, I had to get home and finish wrapping some of the presents. The girls weren't getting much that year. I didn't have a whole lot of extra money to spend on presents. I felt bad about it, but the bills had to be paid. There was one gift that Darry and Soda helped with.

When all the presents were wrapped, I set them under the tree. I somehow made it look like there were a lot. I took a couple of bites of the carrots and cookies the kids left out. I had to make it look like Santa had been there. As far as I knew, they still believed in him.

The next morning, I woke up to Davanee, Scotty, and Mercy waiting patiently in Scotty and Mercy's room. It was kinda funny because that was the only time when they were really patient. I could hear there muffled giggles through the paper thin walls. I smiled as I listened to them. I shuffled down the hall and knocked on the door. They fell silent. I walked in to find that they had crawled back into bed to make it look like they were sleeping.

"Well, I guess we can't open any presents this morning. They're still asleep" I said, leaning against the doorway.

"No we're not" said Mercy, getting out of bed. She ran and jumped into my arms. "We were just pretending."

"Oh really? I couldn't tell" I said.

"We're really good" said Scotty, getting out of bed. Davanee followed. I made them eat breakfast before the presents. My mom made me do that when I was a kid. I hated it. Then I couldn't see why she did it but now I do.

We tore through the presents in about 2 hours. Davanee got some clothes and toys. She got more clothes than toys. Scotty and Mercy got clothes and toys too, but they weren't the same. I didn't like dressing them alike since they didn't look alike. When they were babies, they were dressed alike for special occasions but that was it. I wasn't one of those parents who gave their twins the same stuff. In my mind, they're two different kids with two different personalities. Scotty was more outgoing and more of a tomboy whereas Mercy was a bit more reserved and girly. That's how I could tell the difference between Scotty and Mercy's clothes. Scotty's were more boy colors like blue and red (and they tended to be more dirty). Mercy's clothes were mostly pink and purple and any other girly colors.

When all of the presents had been opened, we went over to the house. There was a big present waiting over there. Well, it wasn't big in size but it was a big deal.

"Now you guys just sit right there and Uncle Soda and I will get the present out of the garage" I said. Soda and Darry had bought it at the pet store the day before and kept it in a cage in the garage. The small, yellow puppy was whimpering in the corner of the cage. I placed her in a basket with a red ribbon tied loosely around her neck.

The kids were waiting on the couch when we got back.

I placed the basket on the table and pulled out the yellow puppy. The kids were nothing but smiles.

"What's her name?" asked Davanee, picking her up.

"She doesn't have one. You guys have to name her" said Darry.

"How about Tigger?" asked Davanee. Mercy and Scotty seemed to like that name, so we stuck with it.

"Now Tigger is going to stay with Uncle Darry and Uncle Soda" I said.

"But you guys can see her whenever you want" said Darry, finishing my sentence. I already checked with Darry and he said it was ok if the girls stopped by to see her a couple of days a week.


	19. Too much to ask

Weeks passed and eventually things went back to normal. The first couple of days back were slow. They almost always are. It took us a long time to get back into the swing of things. I started my classes on a Shakespeare project and the girls had to do science fair projects. I hated doing those stupid science fair project. I never got first place. It was always the same person every year.

Davanee's project was what makes the sky blue. Unfortunately, she didn't win. Someone else did and that person has won every science fair. That Friday after school, I took the kids to the park. Mercy and Scotty went to play while Davanee stayed behind. She sat next to me on the bench.

"Daddy, can Alyssa come over tomorrow?" she asked.

"Who's Alyssa?" I asked.

"She's my friend from school" she said.

"Yeah, I guess it's ok. When do you want her to come over?"

"Tomorrow" she said.

"Yeah tomorrow's ok. We'll pick her up around 1 " I said.

"Ok. I told her she could anyways" said Davanee. I couldn't help but smile.

It was hard to be mad at Davanee. She was like Soda. She would smile whenever she got in trouble. Sometimes that smile worked and sometimes it didn't.

So, around 1 the next day, we picked Alyssa up. She waited outside her house with a little pink suitcase. She had blonde hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in a little while. She had dirt all over her face. She was wearing jeans with a hole in one knee. Her navy blue sweatshirt was covered with dirt and had holes. I thought it was strange her parents didn't want to meet me first. Usually parents wanted to meet before there kids spent the night.

"I'm sorry you couldn't meet my mom and dad" said Alyssa, "they're at work."

"Oh that's ok. I'll just meet them tomorrow when I drop you off" I said, pulling away from her house. Alyssa didn't say anything in return. She seemed like a pretty sweet girl but something wasn't right. The way she reacted to me just didn't seem right. She wouldn't make eye contact with me and she'd apologize profusely when she spilt her chocolate milk at dinner that night. I told her it was ok and I'd clean it up. She smiled and went to play with Davanee.

"Davanee, it's bath time" I announced. We had things to do the next day and she needed a bath.

"Do I have to?" she asked.

"Yeah come on I'll start the shower for ya" I said. Davanee was just starting to take showers. From what I could tell, she didn't like them.

"But Alyssa's here" she said.

"Well, Alyssa can wait while you get a shower" I said.

Davanee sighed and said "fine."

"Mr. Curtis, can I take one too?" asked Alyssa, looking up at me with those big puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah you can take one after Davanee" I said. She smiled and waited patiently for Davanee to get out of the shower. I gave Alyssa a towel and some of Davanee's pajamas. She brought some, but they were very threadbare. I thought Davanee's would work better. She thanked me and climbed into bed shortly after. At first I thought Alyssa was just another poor little girl in the neighborhood. Her parents worked but they couldn't give her nice clothes. It was later that I learned they didn't care.

Davanee came home one day with tears in her eyes.

"Baby what's wrong?" I asked.

"Alyssa got hurt. She wasn't at school today" she said.

"What happened to her?"

"Her dad said she ran into a door" she said.

"Well, she'll be ok, sweetie. I'm sure she'll be back at school tomorrow" I said, giving her a kiss on the forehead. I got up and started walking away.

"Daddy, they hurt her" said Davanee.

I turned and asked "who does?"

"Her mom and dad. They hurt her real bad" she said, crying harder. I got down on her level and asked "are you sure?"

She nodded. "She told me during recess. They hit her a lot. I'm not supposed to tell you. Daddy, you have to do something" she pleaded.

I forced a smile and said "don't you worry. I'll take care of it." I didn't know what I was going to do. I thought about it when all of the sudden, it clicked. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. Social services handles this kind of stuff. I knew just who to call. There was this women named Mrs. Bloom who dealt with stuff like this. I had met her years ago when my parents died. She was the first person from the state to check on us after they died. We had stayed in touch over the years. I knew she would take care of this.

I called her that night after the kids had gone to bed. I know it was after hours but she normally worked late. I talked to her about Alyssa for a long time. She said that she would take care of everything from there. That Thursday, Alyssa wasn't at school again. Everyone thought something bad had happened to her, but I knew where she was.

That day I had to go to the office to get some stuff out of my mail box. As I walked by the principals office, I noticed a very familiar little girl sitting on the bench outside, swinging her feet. It was Scotty. I should've known that out of all of my kids, she would be the first to go to the principals office.

"Scotty, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"Daddy" said Scotty, running up to me and giving me a hug.

"What did you do?"

"It was an accident. I didn't mean to hit her" she said.

"Hit who?"

"Tracey. This girl in my class. She and I were playing with the blocks and we both wanted the same one. We grabbed it at the same time, so we started pulling on it. I decided to give it to her and when I let go, it hit her in the eye. The teacher thinks I did it" she said. The story sounded convincing, but I wouldn't know if it was true or not.

"Just tell everything to the principal. Don't lie to him" I warned.

"Yes sir." I put her down and she went back and sat on the bench. I found things to do in the office while I waited for Scotty to come out of the office. Finally, she emerged with a smile on her face.

"Daddy, I'm not in trouble" she said once she saw me.

"What'd you tell him?"

"What I told you. He believed and he said he would talk to my teacher. And you know what? Tomorrow's show and tell and I get to bring something in."

"What are you going to bring in?" I asked, walking to Mercy's class room. It was the end of the day and time to pick everyone up.

"Can I bring in Mercy?" she asked.

"No. You can't bring you sister in to show and tell" I said.

"Why not?"

"Because family members don't count" I said as we approached Mercy's room. On the way back to the room, Mercy told us just about everything that happened to her that day. As soon as we got to the room, they started drawing on the board. I graded test and waited for Davanee.

"Dad, Alyssa wasn't at school again" said Davanee as she came into my room.

"Baby, we gotta talk about Alyssa" I said. Davanee sat down at a desk and stared up at me with this big, round eyes.

"Alyssa wasn't at school today because some people came and took her away" I said.

"Took her where?" asked Davanee.

"I don't know" I said.

"Is she coming back?"

I shook my head and said "no. You see, someone needed to get her away from her parents so they couldn't hurt her anymore. They sent her to go live with someone who won't hurt her."

"Why'd they hurt her?"

"I don't know." Honestly, I couldn't think of a reason why someone would want to hurt there kids like that. It's not right. Alyssa was such a sweet kid. I'm sure she didn't do anything to be treated like that.

Davanee said "I'm gonna miss her."

"I know but maybe she'll come back" I said, even though I knew she wasn't. I was just saying that to cheer Davanee up. I couldn't stand to see her sad.

"Maybe" said Davanee, smiling a little. She just sat at the desk and worked on her homework. We went home about an hour or so later. I let the kids play. Davanee had done all her homework at school and Mercy and Scotty didn't have homework yet. I started flipping through the mail while the kids played. It was just bills for the most part, but there was one important letter. It was from the landlord. I didn't have to read the letter to know what it was about. The word "eviction" was stamped across the paper in big, red letters. Now, I had been behind a little on the rent but I didn't realize I was that behind.

"Girls, you stay here. Lock the door and don't open it for anyone. I'll be right back" I said, pulling my shoes on.

"Where are you going?" asked Davanee.

"Downstairs. I'll be back in a little bit" I said, walking out the door. I could hear Davanee locking the door behind me. I marched downstairs to find our landlord sitting out by the nearly empty pool, smoking a cigarette. He was sitting in a lawn chair, wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. He stuck out like a sore thumb. Maybe he thought he was in Florida or something. I always thought the old guy was a bit senile.

"What's this?" I asked, holding up the paper.

"It's an eviction notice" he said, blowing smoke in my direction.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that. I mean why are we being evicted?" I asked.

"You're too far behind on your rent. There's no way you're gonna make it up" he said.

"You know it would've been nice if you told me I was that far behind" I said.

"Not my job" he said, leaning back.

"You're the landlord, it's part of your job" I said.

"Look, I'm sorry but if you're not gonna pay the rent and keep up with it, I can't let ya stay here. I told you that right from the beginning. Now, I'll give you 2 weeks to move but that's it" he said, which meant the conversation was over. I knew there was no changing his mind after that. I tried arguing with him once but it didn't work.

I sighed and said "great." Just another thing to add to my plate. For once I would love for something to go right, just once. Is that too much to ask?


	20. Drive in

You would've thought that finding something in our neighborhood would've been easy. I searched high and low for something that was within my price range. There were a couple of places, but none of which were very family oriented. After searching for a couple of days, I finally found a little house near the park. It had 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, kitchen, dinning room, and family room. Scotty and Mercy had to share a room again. I don't think they really mind. They've been sharing a room for the whole lives so it's not like it's going to make a difference.

Soda and Darry came over to help me pack. It was hard to leave that place. There were way too many memories. I experienced a lot of firsts in that apartment. Call me crazy, but it hurt to leave it.

"I'm kinda glad that you're moving closer to us" said Soda as we packed up stuff in the living room.

"Yeah, I guess I am too" I said, wrapping up a lamp and putting it in the box. I think that was the only good part in the whole situation. The rest was just bad.

"So when do you go back to work?" he asked.

"I don't know. I guess I'll go back as soon as we get everything unpacked" I said. I had to take a couple of sick days from both jobs to get everything packed and unpacked. I didn't want to but I had to. Soda and I carried some of the boxes downstairs and loaded the truck. We had to make a couple of trips in order to get everything to the new house. The new house wasn't that far away, just a couple of blocks, but it seemed further. I went back upstairs to find that there were just a couple of boxes left. I would have to wait until Soda got back with the truck.

The kids were sitting on the floor of the empty living room, coloring and staying out of the way. Davanee didn't look to happy. She didn't like the thought of moving. Mercy and Scotty were too young to be effected.

Finally, Soda pulled up in front of the building and we loaded the last few boxes up. I took one last look at the apartment before we left. I took one last walk around the place, memories rushing back to me like a tidal wave. I remember the first time I took Anya to see the place. She fell in love with it. There was nothing about it she didn't like. I'll never forget that smile when I told her I bought it. It was priceless. Thinking of her made me think of the first day I saw her. It was 9th grade. She was in my Math class. It was the first day of school and I walked in just seconds before the bell rang. I was about to take my seat when I saw her sitting in the second row. She couldn't of been more then 13 or 14 then. She was so pretty. She smiled and waved at me before she went back to talking to her friends. For the first time, I didn't want to cry when I thought of her. I smiled and sort of laughed.

The car horn outside brought me out of my daydream. I locked the door, turned the keys into the landlord, and left. For the first time in weeks, I was actually happy.

We pulled up in front of our new house and Soda helped me unload the last couple of boxes. The kids played in the new front yard. Despite the houses appearance, the yard was in pretty good condition. There was just one spot that needed a little work, but other than that, it was good. The back yard was pretty good too. There was a huge oak tree in the back and an old dog house. Darry and Soda were keeping Tigger until we were unpacked. Having a puppy around would just make the unpacking process worse.

After about an hour or so of unpacking, Soda had to go home. It was his job to make dinner that night. He invited us to join them and I said sure, but we'd be over a little later.

"Maybe we can go see a movie or something. None of us really get a chance to go to the movies that often" said Soda.

"Yeah. That'd be fun" I said, smiling. It had been a long time since we had been to the movies. With work and everything, none of us had the time.

"So we'll see you around 6?" asked Soda.

"Yeah, sure" I said.

Soda smiled that priceless smile and left. I couldn't help but grin. Soda had one of those smiles that made you smile even if you were in a really bad mood.

After about another 30 minutes or so of unpacking, I took a break. I decided to join the kids in the backyard.

"You guys be careful!" I called, walking off the porch.

"We will" they said in unison. The yard wasn't that big. It was fenced in all the way around. Over the fence was another house. It looked like they had kids because there were a lot of toys laying around the yard. They were the only neighbors that had kids. The rest were older couples whose kids had moved out.

"Daddy, come up here" said Mercy.

"No, I think I'll stay down here" I said.

"Oh come on Dad" said Davanee from one of the higher branches. It had been years since I had climbed a tree. I used to climb the one at the park all the time but as I got older, I stopped.

"Alright, I'll try" I said. I put my foot on one of the knots and pulled myself up onto one of the branches. I joined Davanee on the higher branches. Mercy and Scotty stayed where they were. You could see a lot from that tree. You could see Darry and Soda's house if you looked closely. You could see the kids playing at the park. It was kinda cool. I could see Johnny's old house. The house was abandoned now. He moved out years ago and eventually, his parents left. Needless to say, they didn't keep in touch. You could see Two-Bit's old house too. His mom and her boyfriend still lived there, but Two-Bit and Kara moved out. Dallas' old house was still there too. His parents still lived there, but Dallas got kicked out when Bo was born. Nice parents, huh? A lot's happened to our gang over the past 8 years, but that's not a bad thing. When I was younger, I thought we'd eventually drift apart, but I guess I was wrong. I also thought I'd move as far away from here as humanly possible, but I couldn't do that.

"Dad, what are we doing for dinner?" asked Davanee.

"We're going to uncle Darry and uncle Soda's" I said.

"Can we go now?" asked Scotty.

"Yeah, let's go."

I climbed down with Davanee following. Scotty and Mercy were already out of the tree and in the house. I helped them get there shoes and jackets. The walk to the house was nice. It wasn't too cold or too hot. The kids ran ahead to the house while I trailed behind. The girls ran inside just as I was approaching the gate. The gate screeched as I closed and locked it. I didn't really see the point of having a gate. Someone could easily climb over it. I've done it numerous times.

I walked inside to find Two-Bit, Dallas, and Soda playing cards in the kitchen. Bo was sitting in the living room, coloring and waiting for Davanee. The kids played while I watched the card game. When I was younger, I used to play all the time but I've lost my interest for the game. Soda won the game by hiding an ace in his shoe. He almost always wins that way. I'm sort of surprised that Two-Bit and Steve didn't see that one coming. Soda, Dallas, and Two-Bit started another game while we were waiting for Darry and Johnny to get off work.

As soon as Darry and Johnny got there, we were off to the drive in. It had been a long time since I had been to the drive in. That last time I went was when Davanee was a baby.

"Daddy whats a drive in?" asked Mercy.

"It's like an outdoor movie theatre. You get to sit in your car or outside and watch a movie" I said.

"Cool" said Mercy, smiling. Instead of driving we walked. It was a nice night out and a little walk wouldn't hurt. The drive-in was packed. I used to go there all the time. I remember one time Johnny, Dallas, and I went. We sat behind these girls and Dallas started making rude comments about them. I would've joined in but they were nice girls. You don't say that stuff to nice girls.

We sat in the second row in front of the concession stand.

"I'm gonna go get popcorn" said Soda, standing up, "anybody wanna come?"

"Me" said Mercy, jumping up.

SODA POV

"I'll give ya a piggy back ride" I said. Mercy hoped on and we made our way to the stand. We were almost there when a couple of Socs stopped us. There were 5 of them. I was out numbered. That was almost always the case.

"Look at what we got here, guys" said one of the Socs, circling us slowly. I had seen him a couple of times before. We went to the same school before I dropped out. I think his name was Bob.

I put Mercy down slowly. She hid behind me.

"Come on guys, just let us go" I said.

"Did you hear that?" asked Bob, "the greaser wants us to let him go. I don't think you're gonna get off that easily."

"Mercy, go back and watch the movie" I said, looking down at Mercy. She started walking away but the Socs stopped her.

"Leave her alone" I said in a low tone.

"Don't think so" said another Soc.

"Look man she's just a kid. Leave her out of this" I said.

Bob just smiled and shook his head no. I hit him but they had me down. I was a pretty good fighter, but I was bad when the odds were against me. I tried to fight back but Mercy was watching. I know Pony wouldn't be too happy if she saw me fighting. One of the socs hit me so hard, I blacked out.

When I came back around, I could see Steve leaning over me.

"Steve?" I asked, rather surprised to see him. He didn't tell me he was in town.

"You ok?" asked Steve, "those Socs beat you pretty good."

"I'm fine" I said, sitting up, "where's Mercy?"

"Ally took her back" said Steve, helping me up, "she was a little shook up."

"Which one?" I asked.

"Mercy" said Steve as we walked back.

"What are you doing back?" I asked.

"Ally has some business to do here. We would've called but it was so last minute we didn't have time" said Steve.

"Oh. Glad you're back, man" I said. Steve just smiled. He never smiled. I guess spending all that time with Ally had changed him.

"So how are things between you and Ally?" I asked.

"Pretty good. Uh, we moved in together a couple of months ago" he said.

"What? No wedding date yet?" I asked. I was only kidding.

"No, we don't want to get married yet" said Steve. I always thought Steve would be the one to get married as soon as he met the right girl. Steve was always the one to rush into things without thinking it through.

We met up with the rest of the gang a couple of minutes later. Mercy had told everybody about what happened. I was sorry that she had to see all that. She shouldn't have to see that. It's not right. It's not right for anyone to make a 6 year old watch someone get beat up.

"You ok?" asked Darry, looking at my eye. Some Soc had given me a black eye.

"Yeah, I'll be fine" I said, "look who's back in town."

"Uncle Steve!" yelled Davanee, running up to him. She gave him a big hug. He hugged her back.

"Wow, you've gotten big. What grade are you in now?" asked Steve.

"3rd" she said, smiling.

"Wow, you're making me feel old" said Steve.

"if it makes you feel old imagine how it makes me feel" said Pony.

"Daddy who's that?" asked Scotty.

"This is your Uncle Steve. You met him when you were just a baby" he said.

"This can't be Mercy and Scotty" said Steve. The last time he saw them, they were just a little over a month old.

PONYBOY'S POV

I was surprised to see Steve back in town. I wasn't very happy about it, but surprised nonetheless. Why someone who got out would want to come back is beyond me.

After the movie, we walked home. It wasn't a really long walk, just right around the corner.

"Daddy why'd those guys hurt uncle Soda?" asked Mercy when we were walking home.

"I don't, baby" I said.

"Will they hurt me?" asked Mercy.

"No, of course not. You're too cute" I said. She just smiled as if she already knew that and ran to catch up with her sisters. The truth is, it's likely they'll hurt her.

_Hey guys. Sorry it took so long for me to get this one up. I had to deal with a lot of stuff first. I hope you liked it. I know it was kinda boring, but it'll get better. I'm already working on the next chapter._


	21. Babysitting

_Sorry i haven't updated in forever! I got a bad case of writer's block and couldn't hink of anything! I know this chapter isn't great, but the story will get better (besides, i'm working on the next story in the series)._

Days passed, and before we knew it the new house was starting to feel like home. It took me a little while to get everything unpacked, but I did it eventually. Steve and Ally ended up staying for a couple of weeks. They were actually thinking about moving back here. It'd be nice to have them back. I know I wasn't a big fan of Steve when I was younger but I think we're old enough to come to terms with our differences.

"Where ya goin'?" asked Davanee. I was getting ready to go out. Ally had set me up with one of her friends. I normally don't do blind dates but I figured I'd try something new for a change.

"I've got a date" I said, buttoning up my shirt.

"With who?" asked Davanee.

"This girl named Christy. She's one of Ally's friends" I said.

"What're we gonna do?" asked Davanee.

"Steve and Ally are gonna watch you guys while I'm out" I said.

"Oh, ok" said Davanee. I hadn't been on a date for a long time so I was a little nervous. The last date I went on was with Sam to have dinner with her family. Davanee had a meltdown a couple of nights before, but you already knew that. I was kinda surprised that she wasn't upset that night. She acted as if she was ok with it. For all I know, maybe she was.

I waited in the living room for Steve and Ally. Scotty and I colored while we waited. That was a very rare moment. It was hard for Scotty to focus on one thing for more than 5 minutes at a time. People thought there was something wrong with her. I think she's just easily distracted. I think Scotty was more like Anya. At 6 years old, Scotty was more out-going than I ever was. Mercy, on the other hand, takes after me. She only talks to people she knows and is comfortable with. Then there is Davanee, who's been able to find a happy medium between the two. She can be very outgoing when she wants, but other times she's shy.

A couple of minutes later, Steve and Ally arrived.

"Sorry it took us so long" said Ally, "we got lost."

"Yeah, Soda doesn't give the best directions" said Steve.

"It's ok" I said.

"So where are the kids?" asked Ally, walking around the living room.

"Well, Scotty's right there. The other two are in the backyard" I said. Scotty left her post at the coffee table and followed me. I led them through the house to the yard. Our house was a little messy, but they didn't seem to care. Knowing Steve, his place was probably just as bad (if not worse).

"They'll probably stay out here another 30 minutes or so" I said.

"What do we do if they get hungry?" asked Ally.

"They're not that picky so they'll eat just about anything. There's plenty of stuff in there for you guys too if you get hungry" I said.

"What about bedtime?" asked Ally.

"They're bedtime is 9:30. They usually get a bath around 9:00. Davanee can bathe herself but Scotty and Mercy might need help. After that, they usually like to hear a story" I said.

"That's it?" asked Ally.

"Yep, that's it" I said, "I should probably go now. Davanee and Mercy!"

They came running up to the porch. They were all a little dirty from playing so hard.

"I'm leaving now. You guys be good for Steve and Ally while I'm gone" I said, giving all of them a kiss goodbye.

I grabbed my jacket and keys off the kitchen table. I had to hurry if I didn't want to be late. I was meeting her at some restaurant called Rena's on the other side of town. It was some fancy pizza place.

STEVE'S POV

I real liked being back in Tulsa. Don't get me wrong, I liked living in Texas but Tulsa's my home. I missed the gang too. That was the worst part about moving away. I felt that I had missed a lot while I was gone. The kids were just babies and toddlers when I left. Now they're in elementary school. I didn't realize I was gone that long. I remember the day Ally asked me to go back with her. That was nearly 7 years ago. So much has happened in those 7 years, I can't even begin to tell you. When we first got to Texas, it was hard. Ally's parents didn't like me. They thought I was white trash, but I proved them wrong. 7 years later, I found myself living with Ally wondering how I got there. Ally's parents and siblings became the family I never had growing up. There were times when Ally's little brother, Derek, would refer to me as his older brother.

"Kids come on, let's go inside!" called Ally. We all followed Ally inside.

"What'd ya guys want for dinner?" asked Ally.

"Macaroni and cheese" said Davanee. The other two wanted macaroni and cheese.

Ally made dinner while I watched the kids. They sat around the coffee table and colored. I didn't really know what to do with them. I didn't like kids. I remember when Ponyboy was a kid, I thought he was really annoying. I didn't want to have anything to do with him. I only tolerated him because of Soda. However, now that we're older, he doesn't seem too bad.

"Dinner's ready!" called Ally from the kitchen. I passed on dinner. I'm not really the macaroni and cheese person. I never liked it when I was a kid. For some reason, it made me sick. After dinner, Ally gave Scotty and Mercy their bath while I watched Davanee. She just played with some of her dolls on the floor. I didn't think she liked dolls. I remember her playing with army men, not dolls.

"You wanna play, Uncle Steve?" asked Davanee, handing me a Ken doll.

"No thanks. Maybe later" I said.

"Suit yourself" said Davanee as she went back to playing.

"Davanee time for your bath!" called Ally. Davanee left her Barbies on the floor to take her bath. While she was leaving, Mercy and Scotty came walking down the hall in their pajamas. After Davanee got her bath and changed into her pajamas, the kids wanted to hear a story and they wanted to hear it from me.

"Read this one" said Scotty, holding up a book. It was _Where the Wild Things Are_. I remember reading that book when I was a kid. My mom would read it to me sometimes after work. My dad never read to me. He didn't like it.

I read the book and put them to bed. To my surprise, they went to sleep almost instantly. I thought it would've taken them a little while. We waited for a couple of hours for Pony to get home. He didn't come home till midnight.

"How was the date?" I asked.

"Fine" he said, taking off his jacket.

"Fine?" asked Ally, "that's it?"

"Yeah, it's wasn't all that great. She talked most of the time. She is very pretty though" he said.

"What'd you guys talk about?" I asked.

"Work, family. A bunch of different things. She's nice" he said.

"You didn't like her, did you?" I asked.

"Well, she was just ok. Everything was going fine until she said she wasn't crazy about kids" he said.

"Well maybe she'll like yours" said Ally, "as far as kids go, yours are pretty good."

"I guess that means you guys didn't have a problem with them" he said.

"Nope. No problem at all. We should go" said Ally, "it's getting late."

"Thanks for watching them" said Pony, showing us the door. We said our goodbyes and left. Ally and I began our long walk back to Two-Bit's place.

KARA POV

The house was completely dark when I got home. I had to stay after school for a soccer game. I made the soccer team that year at school. Two-bit was supposed to pick me up, but he never came. I got a ride home from Stephen, Hailey's dad. Hailey had to stay after school for something and they just happened to go by the soccer field.

I unlocked the door and flipped on the lights. The house was a mess, as usual. My brother doesn't clean much and between soccer, school, and visiting mom, I don't have much time to clean.

I threw my soccer and school stuff in my room and flipped on the TV. This is what I did most nights. Two-Bit was hardly ever home when I got home. I wish he was . It gets lonely around here without him.


	22. Seven

**Chapter 22**

_Sorry I took the other chapter down. I thought about it for a while and I felt like there was too much going on with the kids right now. Maybe it'll be part of the next story, I don't know. Also, I just realized something after all this time. Both Ponyboy and Davanee's ages are completely wrong. Davanee is supposed to be 9 and Ponyboy is supposed to be 23. I'm sorry I didn't catch it earlier, and I'm sorry about the confusion. Obviously, I'm terrible at math (even simple math). So, again sorry._

PONY'S POV

It was a very special day at our house. It was Mercy and Scotty's 7th birthday. I know 7 isn't a big birthday, but it's hard for me to believe that they were turning 7. It was also hard for me to believe that Anya had been gone 7 years. I guess you could say it's a bittersweet day. I tried not to be sad on their birthday. If she were here, she'd try to make it as special as possible. It's not that I don't want their birthday to be special, it's just that we can't afford to have big parties like other kids. However, we are going to have family and a few friends

I got up early that morning and made breakfast. Normally they would just have cereal or eggs, but on special occasions we had pancakes. That day was a pretty special day. I know it was their birthday and all, but I had to drop Mercy and Scotty off with Sam for a little while. Davanee and I were going shopping. I didn't have the chance to get their birthday presents during the week. All them usually got about 2 or 3 presents from me on their birthdays. I know it doesn't seem like much, but if you count all the other presents they got from other people, it was.

I was almost done with the pancakes when I heard little feet shuffling down the hallway. I turned to see Mercy standing in the doorway, her hair messed up from sleeping on it all night.

"Morning daddy" she said happily.

"Morning birthday girl" I said, picking her up. She was getting too big to be picked up. I set her down and she sat down at the kitchen table.

"Dad, do we have to eat breakfast in here?" asked Mercy.

"We can eat wherever you want. It's your day" I said.

"Good because I wanna watch cartoons" said Mercy, running to the living room. She turned the TV on to the show Speed Racer and sat on the couch. My kids loved their Saturday morning cartoons. On some Saturday mornings, the Speed Racer theme song served as an alarm clock for me. It's not that I l slept in, it's that my kids actually got up early to watch cartoons.

As I was setting a plate down in front of Mercy on the coffee table, I heard another pair of little feet coming down the hallway. Scotty joined Mercy on the couch. Speed Racer was one of her favorite shows. She even went as Speed Racer for Halloween when she was 5.

"Hi dad" said Scotty, smiling.

"Morning birthday girl" I said, bringing her a plate of pancakes. She slid off the couch and sat at the coffee table. Normally I wouldn't let them eat in the living room, but since it was their birthday, I made an exception.

Finally, Davanee made her way down the hall. She wished Scotty and Mercy a happy birthday and curled up in the chair with her blanket. She was half asleep when I brought her breakfast.

"Daddy, can we open our presents now?" asked Mercy.

"No, not right now. You'll open them later" I said.

"When?" asked Scotty.

"When everyone comes over later" I said.

"Fine" said Mercy. I let them watch cartoons for a little while. Saturday mornings was really the only time they got to watch a lot of TV. However, they did make time for The Partridge Family once a week, which was all we really had time for. However, I don't think they've suffered from lack of TV. As you may already know, too much TV isn't a good thing.

Eventually, we had to turn the TV off. The kids had to get ready and I had to clean up. The kids could get ready by themselves for the most part, but Mercy and Scotty still needed help tying their shoes. Since it was still cold outside, I had the kids put their jackets on. The last thing I needed was sick kids.

"Dad, where are we going?" asked Scotty.

"Well, you and Mercy are going to hang out with Sam at her house for a little while. Davanee and I have some errands to run" I said, following the kids out the door.

"Can't we go with you?" asked Mercy as I buckled her in.

"No, not this time. Besides, you're going to have a lot more fun with Sam. You'll get to play with all her brothers and sisters" I said. My kids got along well with her siblings, even the older ones. Then again, my kids got along with just about everyone. The car ride to Sam's house with anything but silent. All 3 of my kids were obsessed with David Cassidy and The Jackson Five, so of course every time one of their songs came on the radio, we had to turn it up. What really caught me off guard was Mercy singing at the top of her lungs to The Jackson Five's _I Want You Back_. It made me laugh, not because she couldn't sing, but because it wasn't like her. I guess she was just excited.

"Here we are" I said, turning the music down as we pulled up to Sam's house. Some of the kids were waiting in the yard, with Sam sitting on the front porch steps. She stood up as soon as she saw our car.

"Hey guys" she said was we got out.

"Sam!" yelled Davanee, giving her a hug. She acted as if she hadn't seen Sam in years. That's one of the many things I loved about Davanee. Every she greeted you, it was as if she hadn't seen you in years. That's one of the many reasons why I look forward to seeing my kids at the end of the day.

"Thanks for watching them" I said.

"Oh, it's no problem" said Sam, "if it's ok with you, I'm gonna take out to lunch later."

"Fine by me" I said.

"You know Davanee's welcome to stay if she wants" offered Sam.

"Thanks but she has to come with me. She likes to help pick out their birthday presents" I said, "you are coming by later, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I hope you don't mind but I might have to bring Lilly with me. Everyone else has somewhere to be tonight except Lilly" said Sam.

"Oh it's no problem. Mercy and Scotty love Lilly" I said.

"Ok. So I guess I'll see you guys later" said Sam.

"Dad, let's go" said Davanee, pulling me away.

"Bye" I said, smiling. Sam smiled as I pulled out of the drive way. It was funny. Sam and I have known each other for years and yet I have no idea what to say when I'm around to her. You would've thought by now it'd be easy for me to talk to women.

"Where are we going?" asked Davanee.

"To the mall" I replied.

"Good. I like the mall" said Davanee, smiling. She didn't get to go to the mall very often.

When we got to the mall, I was surprised to see the parking lot half empty. There were a few cars here and there, but not many. The first store we went to was a toy store. Scotty and Mercy usually got 2 toys each. The first thing I saw when we walked into the store was the new Speed Racer racecar. Scotty had been begging for that car for months. I felt terrible about not getting it for her for Christmas, but it was too pricey. Thankfully, the price had gone down a lot, so of course I got it.

The next thing we saw was the games isle. Mercy wasn't really into games but I figured there was no harm in looking. Sure enough, Davanee found something Mercy would like.

"Dad look" said Davanee, holding up a Lite Brite. Lite Brites weren't exactly popular that year, but I knew Mercy would like it. Then again, Mercy liked just about everything. For a kid, she was pretty easy going.

After we went to the toys store, Davanee and I had to pick up the cake. It was white wither purple around the edges. It said "Happy Birthday Scotty and Mercy" in cursive, purple letters. The cake also had 7 pink candles surrounding the writing, with a small Speed Racer action figure in one corner and rose (which was Mercy's favorite flower) in one corner. Normally, I wouldn't pay for all that stuff on a cake, but I figured once in a while wasn't bad.

Once we got home, I put the cake in the refrigerator and Davanee put the presents in her room. She liked to wrap the presents. Sure, she used newspaper and it wasn't the best job, but it didn't matter. The point is the presents were covered as much as possible.

Pretty soon it was time to pick up Mercy and Scotty. I know it would've been easier for Sam to bring them with her when she came over, but Scotty and Mercy needed a nap before that night. They were going to be up later than usual, and I know how grumpy they can be. Neither one of them are too pretty when they're grumpy.

Davanee and I picked them up. Sam was busy with the other kids to talk for a while, so we didn't stay long. Besides, I had a surprise for both of them and I needed to be home when they got there. I made sure Mercy and Scotty were sound asleep before the surprises came. Both of the surprises arrived at the same time. Now, I know I said I didn't get them much for their birthdays. However, I didn't pay for these, they were just being delivered to the house. These were from their grandparents and Gracie, since they couldn't come. Mom wanted so much to be here, but she couldn't get away from work.

Once both of the surprises were unloaded, I placed a large sheet over Mercy's and put Scotty's in my room. Sure, the kids will ask about the sheet, but they'll listen to me if I tell them not to look. I thought I might be spoiling them a little with these surprises, but it didn't matter. They've never got presents as big or expensive as these. At first, I didn't think it was a good idea, but their grandma insisted on it.

While the kids were asleep, I got ready for everyone to come over. It was a rarity to get dressed without someone interrupting me. Sam must've kept them busy because they slept for a long time. They never nap very long, maybe 30 minutes at the most. I suppose they're getting to that age where they don't have to nap anymore.

"Daddy, Uncle Soda's here" announced Davanee.

"Ok, you go get the door and I'll be there in a minute" I said, sending her out of the room. I finished getting ready and walked out to see Soda sitting in the middle of our living room, playing dolls with Davanee. It was funny to see such a tough greaser playing dolls with a little girl. I gave him a hard time about it all the time, but he knows I don't mean anything.

"Soda, I didn't know you liked to play with dolls" I said, leaning against the doorway.

"I don't. I was just keeping her entertained" said Soda, getting up.

"He wanted to play" said Davanee.

I laughed and put my arm around Soda. "It's been a long time" I said.

"Yeah well, not that long. We've just been really busy since Christmas" said Soda

"So, what's new in your world?" I asked, taking my arm off Soda.

"I met this girl" said Soda, smiling, "her name's Jenny. She's from the middle class, which is good. She's nice. She's different from all the other girls."

"How?" I asked.

"Well, for one, she's not a greaser, which is especially nice. Two, she actually cares about what she looks like. Only one other girl I've dated has actually cared, the rest were just .."

"Trashy?" I asked.

"To but it bluntly, yeah" said Soda. It was true, a lot of the girls that Soda dated were a little trashy. The only one who looked nice was Sandy. At first, I thought that was why Soda was dating Jenny. She reminded him of Sandy. Soda didn't talk about Sandy much. After the incident, he talked about her a lot, but as the years wore on, he stopped. I'll never forget that night I found him under the tree in the park. He was so heartbroken, it killed me to see him so upset. In a way, I knew exactly how Soda felt. We both lost someone we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with. We also have constant reminders all around us. For me, it's Scotty and Mercy. For him, it's Bo. Don't get me wrong, Soda loves Bo, but Bo looks so much like Sandy, it's hard not to think of her. I feel the same way about Scotty and Mercy. Both of them look so much like Anya, I see her every time I look at them.

"So when's Darry coming?" I asked.

"He said he should be here by 6:30 so probably 30 minutes or so" said Soda. Even after I left, Darry worked just as hard. Sometimes I wished Darry wouldn't work as hard. After all, he wasn't that old. He should be able to have some fun once in a while. The funny thing is, when I was younger, I saw Darry in a different light. I thought he was just plain mean and over protective of me. Now I realize he was so tough on men because he didn't want me to end up like so many other kids in our neighborhood.

"Darry's been working a lot lately. I keep telling him to lighten the load a little, but he doesn't want to" said Soda.

"He's always been like that" I said.

"I know. However, he did manage to meet a girl" said Soda.

"Really?" I asked, shocked. I mean, I had a hard time picturing Darry with a girl, but I guess anything is possible.

"What's her name?"

"Gina" said Soda.

"How'd he meet her?"

"I dunno. You should ask him" said Soda, "so, where are the birthday girls? I've yet to see them."  
"They're still asleep. They spent the day at Sam's and they needed a nap. I guess it is time for them to get up" I said, "Davanee, go get your sisters."

"So what's under the sheet?" asked Soda.

"It's Mercy's present from her grandparents" I said.

"Where's Scotty's present?" asked Soda.

"It's in my room" I said.

"Uncle Darry!" yelled Scotty running down the hallway as Darry came through the door. I guess Darry got off work a little early.

"Hey, birthday girl" said Darry, bending down to give Scotty a hug. Mercy followed down the hall.

"Hey, another birthday girl" said Darry, giving Mercy a hug. Of course, Davanee got a hug too.

"Long time no see, little brother" said Darry, putting his arm around me.

"How's work going?' I asked.

"Oh, it's long and boring as usual" he said, "we just started a new project on the other side of town. They're building some new apartments over there and the owner hired us to do the roof."

"That's good" I said, "you must get paid a lot to do jobs on the other side of town."  
"Well, it's not a lot, but it's more than usual, which is always good" said Darry.

"So who's Gina?" I asked.

"Oh, she's just this girl I've been seeing for a couple of weeks" said Darry as if it were no big deal.

"How'd you guys meet?" I asked.

"Actually, Soda introduced us. She usually stops by the DX once a week and Soda and her go to talking. One day he mentioned that he had an older brother. Soda got her number for me and about a week later, we went out to dinner" said Darry, smiling. It's been a long time since I've seen Darry that happy. I've haven't met Gina, but she must good if she makes Darry that happy.

Pretty soon, the rest of the gang was sitting in our living room. Well, not all of the gang was there. Dallas dropped Bo off and sped off to work.

Sam and Lilly were the last to come. Sam looked really pretty that night, even more so than usual. Her red hair was curled in large curls that went past her shoulders. She was wearing a khaki skirt that stopped just above her knees, with a red sweater that came down over the top of the skirt. I know it may not sound good to you, but I usually see her in a uniform. Anything is better than a uniform.

Pretty soon it was time for dinner. Scotty and Mercy got to pick dinner that night. It was basically a mix of everything they liked for dinner. After dinner came the cake and ice-cream. Both Mercy and Scotty absolutely loved cake and ice-cream. The only time they got to have it was at birthday parties and on holidays. As I watched Scotty and Mercy blow out the candles on their cake, I thought of Anya. Suddenly, I could picture her standing next to them, making sure they blew out every candle. It's been 7 years since she died and yet it feels like it happened yesterday. The strange thing was that I wasn't sad. Anya wouldn't want me to be sad. She'd want me to make sure Mercy and Scotty had a good birthday, which is what I did.

"Daddy, can we open our presents now?" asked Scotty after everyone was done with the cake and ice cream.

"Yeah, sure" I said. Scotty and Mercy ran over to the couch and waited for their presents. They got a lot of presents that year. They got identical Mickey Mouse toys from Two-Bit, Barbies from Maddie and Dillon, markers and crayons from Bo, a cassette player and tapes from Sam and Lilly, sidewalk chalk from Johnny, jump ropes from Ally and Steve, clothes (which they needed desperately) from Darry and Soda, and last but not least, the Speed Racer Car and Lite Brite from Davanee and I.

"What's under the sheet?" asked Mercy.

"Well, that's a surprise from Grandma, Grandpa, and Gracie. Mercy, the one under the sheet is for you and Scotty, yours is in my room" I said, walking to get Scotty's present. I knew what Mercy was getting, but I had no idea what Scotty was getting. Whatever it was came in a big white box that had a big purple bow on top. The bow was almost as big as the present. I set Scotty's present down next to her on the couch and had Mercy stand by hers. I had them open it at the same time. Scotty opened the box to find a brand new ballerina outfit, complete with shoes and stockings. She looked at it as if it was the best present she had ever seen.

Mercy pulled the sheet off to reveal a piano. The piano wasn't new, but to Mercy it was. The piano was brown and old. From what I understand, it came from Anya's grandparents house. This was the same piano Anya played when she was little, except it was tuned before we got it. Now, you may think grandma was showing favoritism, but Scotty had no interested in the piano and , surprisingly, wasn't jealous in the slightest. She was completely enamored with her new ballerina outfit.

"Wow" said Mercy, staring at the instrument. "A piano."

"This is so you can practice at home" I said, helping Mercy onto the bench. She ran her fingers all over the keys. Scotty got off the couch and showed me her new outfit.

"And this" I said to Scotty, guestering to the outfit, "is so you don't have to wear that old leotard anymore."

"Can I go put it on?" asked Scotty.

"Sure" I said. Scotty ran to her room with the outfit in hand. For a moment, I thought she wasn't going to like it. Scotty can be difficult to please, but it made me happy to know that she loved her present. Soon Scotty came running down the hall in her ballerina outfit, her new ballerina shoes in hand. I had to lace them up for her. She didn't really like to wear those shoes, but since they were new, she had to give them a try.

About an hour later, everyone was gone. Of course, I was left to clean up the mess. I didn't mind, really. I've gotten used to it by now. Once I was done with the mess, I tucked the kids in bed.

I tucked Mercy and Scotty in first. Both of them where exhausted and ready for bed. As I tucked both of them in, I could've sworn I heard Anya saying good night.


End file.
